The Ultimate Lifeforms
by ClawedIndecisive FanGirl
Summary: It's been a week since Solaris was destroyed. Sonic and Shadow are 'brothers' now and Shadow has moved in with him and Tails. In his quest to uncover the rest of his past, Shadow is forced to work for Eggman to obtain the pages to Professor Gerald Robotnik's journal from him and he makes a shocking discovery connecting him and Sonic, making them even closer than previously thought.
1. Chapter 1- Breaking a Promise

**Here's the first chapter of the sequel to Return to Robotropolis! If you haven't read Return to Robotropolis, I suggest you do because it's going to be referenced a few times. Please read and review! I hope you enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER**: I do NOT own _Sonic the Hedgehog_!

* * *

**(Space Colony ARK – Over 50 Years Ago)**

_"Freeze!" The guard shouted as he raised his gun. "Take your hand off that lever!"_

_Maria gasped as she turned and met his gaze for a moment, her young blue eyes filled with fear. Pushing her feelings of terror aside, she turned her attention back to the lever which would insure the safety of her friend and the existence of his newest companion._

_"I'm not fooling around here!" the guard shouted, keeping his gun aimed directly at Maria._

_"Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog." Using all her strength, she pulled down, launching the two pods towards Mobius, one somehow teleporting to another point in time._

_A gun fired._

_Suddenly, everything went black._

* * *

**(The False G.U.N. Investigation Report)**

_Due to an unfortunate accident and miscommunication, our initial suspicion of the abuse of government resources to fund and create the "Ultimate Lifeform" was false._

_No evidence of such a creature ever existing was found in the laboratories or computer data._

_A total of 57 casualties have been reported, a result of members of the ARK attempting to attack G.U.N. soldiers and failure to cooperate with the investigation._

_Head scientist, Gerald Robotnik, has been arrested for interfering with an investigation and embezzlement of government funds._

_A warning has been issued to the general public warning of falling space debris due to the accident, including two capsules. These capsules are highly unstable and are thought to contain nuclear power sources. All civilians are advised to steer clear of such debris and notify the proper authorities immediately._

_As of this report submission, neither of the capsules have been found._

* * *

**(Present Day)**

A loud and up-beat tune whistled down the hallway as the evil genius and self-proclaimed ruler of the world marched happily down the hall of the abandoned space station. After yet another defeat at the hands of his speedy blue nemesis, Eggman was willing to take the time to perfect his plan.

Defeat at the hands of Sonic the Hedgehog was nothing new to him; in fact it was practically a weekly occurrence. Heck, Eggman had overthrown a monarchy and built an empire, lost it to Sonic, built an entire army, and lost that too, because of Sonic.

This time, he was sure it would all go according to plan. That was what he always told himself before he launched a new campaign to rid himself of the blue speedster, but this time he was willing to wager his entire empire.

This time, he would not be working alone.

As the evil doctor approached the end of the hallway, the metallic doors slid open for him, revealing the ARK's observation deck.

Eggman smiled darkly, seeing the ace in his hand already there on the deck, watching the planet below them. He knew he would be there. He alone held what the Ultimate Lifeform truly wanted.

Frowning, Shadow the Hedgehog turned from the window to face the figure entering the room after hearing his footsteps and the door opening.

"Well, Shadow," Eggman began. "It's good to see you. I had a feeling you would accept my invitation."

"Let's just cut to the chase," Shadow growled, not in the mood for any of the evil doctor's games. "The journal pages, you said you had them. Where are they?"

Eggman reached into his red jacket and drew some weathered, folded papers from the inner pocket. "They're right here, but you know what you have to do if you want them."

Shadow turned back to the window, staring at the blue planet once more. "Fine. I'll get you what you want." Though Shadow loathed the idea of working for Eggman as if he were one of his lackeys, especially since it meant breaking his promise, he desperately needed the papers in Eggman's hands. They were the journal pages from Professor Gerald Robotnik's scientific and personal journal, and the only remaining documents containing the truth about Shadow's past and creation. True, he could use brute force to get the papers out of Eggman's hands, but they were only part of the journal, not the whole thing. If he wanted the complete book, he would have to go along with what Eggman wanted.

Eggman smiled. "Excellent, I knew you wou-"

"But!" Shadow interrupted him before he could go off on a rant; wanting to be sure he was heard. "I will do it under one condition."

"And what is that?" Eggman asked, still smiling and genuinely interested in what the black hedgehog desired.

"You have to swear to me."

"Swear what?"

"Swear that you won't kill him." As much as he hated to admit it, Shadow was willing to stoop to some unethical means of getting what he wanted, but he wasn't willing to dirty his hands with blood for it, especially not the blood of his best friend.

Eggman let out a rousing bout of laughter at this. His laughter, however, was cut short as he was suddenly on the floor with an angry black hedgehog standing over him with the front of his jacket in hand.

"I'm serious about this!" Shadow snarled. "Swear to me or I will teleport off the station right now and inform them of your whereabouts!"

"Why do you suddenly care about him so much?" Eggman asked, smirking. "Something happen in Mobotropolis?" Shadow's refusal to be involved if death was involved was piquing his interest. It wasn't like the Ultimate Lifeform's hands were clean of blood in the first place. Plus, he hadn't failed to notice Shadow's sudden, friendly attitude towards him.

"That's none of your business!" Shadow spat.

"Besides, I fight those I have to," he continued, still glaring menacingly at the fat man beneath him. "I may have taken far more lives than you, but I refuse to have the blood of the innocent on my hands. I was created to protect the world and that is exactly what I will do if you intend to end his life."

"All right." Eggman pushed Shadow off of him and stood up, fixing his jacket. "You have my word. I won't kill the rat while he's on the ARK. Happy now?"

"For now." Shadow muttered, moving away from Eggman. "When do you want him?"

"Before the end of tonight."

Shadow removed his Chaos Emerald from its hiding place. Just as he was about to use it to leave, Eggman stopped him.

"Hold on, Shadow. Not yet."

Shadow's face immediately fell even further. "What? Why?"

Eggman went on to explain why Shadow needed to wait a bit.

"Fine. When do I leave?" Shadow asked, wanting to get the experience over with as quickly as possible. He was ready to go, but who knew what Eggman had in mind.

"Just a few more hours."

* * *

Sonic inhaled, taking a deep breath of fresh mountain air as he lay on the ground. The forest reminded him of his childhood home in the outskirts of Robotropolis. It was always nice to take a stroll through memory lane.

Deeply relaxed, the blue hedgehog closed his eyes, hoping to take a quick nap before heading back to the house, which he now shared not only with Tails, but with Shadow as well. They were all still getting used to living with each other, especially Tails and Shadow. Tails hadn't taken the news that Shadow was moving in very well, but they were starting to get used to it.

Just as he was about to drift into unconsciousness, he felt a blast of energy suddenly strike him on the side of his face.

Snapping up to full attention, Sonic recognized the the blast as a Chaos Spear. He looked up to see Shadow standing on a boulder. "What the heck are you doing, Shadow?!"

"Sorry about this, little brother," Shadow apologized. In the blink of an eye, Shadow was on top of Sonic, the two of them sliding towards the base of a nearby tree at full speed.

Putting his hands behind his head, Sonic used the impact to give himself some momentum. Pulling his legs close to his body, he kicked forward, sending Shadow flying off of him in the opposite direction as he curled up into a ball and bounced off the tree.

Shadow flipped himself mid-air, landing on his feet as adrenaline pumped through his veins. Not wasting any time, he charged straight for Sonic again.

The two hedgehogs both curled up to strike one another. Had any person ventured onto the scene, all they would have seen were the two ricocheting off one another at breath-taking speeds.

"How long are we going to do this for?" Sonic asked as he dropped, grabbing the incoming Shadow by his chest fur and throwing him off course. "Another minute or so?"

"That's all the time I need to pin you down." Shadow hit the ground, sliding.

"Okay, joke's over, Shads. What's going on?" Though he hid it perfectly, Sonic was starting to feel slightly nervous. Why was Shadow after him? Somehow, he doubted it was because the black-and-red hedgehog was bored.

Shadow tackled Sonic, causing the two to tumble a few times before coming to a stop, Shadow on the top. Shadow firmly placed his hands on Sonic's shoulders, pinning him down.

"I'm really sorry about this," Shadow whispered, looking like he felt really guilty.

Sonic stared at Shadow, only to see the darker hedgehog bringing a syringe to his arm. "What is that?! What are you doing?! Shadow! Stop!" he all but shouted, now fighting desperately with a newfound fervor.

With a sigh, Shadow placed the syringe on the ground, out of Sonic's reach, but still within his own. He put his hand back on Sonic's shoulder and sat on Sonic's legs to hold them down.

"Shhh... Calm down, Sonic. It'll be okay," Shadow whispered soothingly, still looking really guilty. "Now, I'm going to give you this sedative. I know you'll be in a situation you won't like when you wake up, but I need you to trust me." Shadow then went on to explain what was going to happen. Sonic trembled, scared about what was going to happen to him. As Sonic relaxed (though still trembling), Shadow stopped pinning him down.

"We're going to get through this, but you're going to need to pull yourself together. I promise I'm going to get you out of this, but it's going to take some time before I can. I need you to wait and just trust me, okay?"

Sonic nodded shakily in understanding. Shadow inserted the needle into Sonic's arm. He injected all the liquid and removed the needle.

As the sedative kicked in, Sonic felt himself getting extremely weak. Before he knew it, his eyes were forcing themselves shut as he fell into a deep sleep.

Shadow hoped that Eggman hadn't lied to him about what was really in the syringe. For all he knew, he could have injected Sonic with a lethal poison. He comfortingly stroked Sonic's quills, then gently picked him up, carrying him in his arms. He then pulled out his Chaos Emerald from his quills.

"Chaos Control."


	2. Unnecessary Surgery and Revelations

**Sorry, I meant to get this chapter uploaded yesterday, but I didn't get it done in time. Please read and review! I hope you enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER**: I do NOT own _Sonic the Hedgehog_!

* * *

Sonic awoke to a metallic ceiling overhead and a pounding headache. Blinking his eyes a few times, he tried to clear his vision, to no avail. Trying to regain awareness, Sonic moved his arms only to find them restrained above his head.

Looking around the room, Sonic was able to tell he was in some kind of medical facility, but everything seemed cold and metallic. The room was small with only one other unoccupied hospital bed to the right of him. His swimming vision made it hard to focus on details, but he didn't need his full eyesight to know he was in trouble.

Soft clicking sounds, much like a keyboard, caught Sonic's attention. As he turned to the source, he found Eggman typing at a computer.

"Eggman?" Sonic whispered out in his weak voice. He found it strange that the fat man was not in his usual attire, but was wearing hospital scrubs instead.

Eggman looked up from his work in surprise, not expecting Sonic to be up so soon. "You have a very impressive metabolism, Sonic. I thought for sure you would be out for the rest of the day. It's no matter, only a few minutes delay in my plan."

"Plan?" Sonic asked hoarsely. He had never before worried about Eggman's plans, as they were always easy to foil, but for once in his life, he truly felt fear. He truly felt helpless. "What are you going to do?" He was also too loopy to remember what Shadow told him.

"Just some research," Eggman said calmly, motioning to the array of surgical weapons beside Sonic.

Sonic's eyes grew wide at the sight. "What kind of... research?" Nervousness was clearly evident in his voice.

"The scientific kind," Eggman responded with a laugh, enjoying the sight of Sonic at his mercy. "If it was up to me, you would be awake for the whole procedure, but don't worry, you won't be."

Sonic watched as Eggman washed his hands and put on a pair of sterile surgical gloves. He then made his way over to some drawers on the side of the hospital room and pulled a syringe out of a nearby drawer, bringing it closer to Sonic.

"Don't worry, you won't feel a thing." Eggman inserted the needle into Sonic's arm and injected the contents.

Within moments, Sonic was unconscious once more.

"Besides," Eggman added, knowing he was speaking only to himself. "Shadow would have my heart on a platter if I hurt a quill on your head."

* * *

**(The Real G.U.N. Investigation Report)**

**_(Over 50 Years Ago -_**

**_Project Shadow- Mission Debrief_**

**_Mission Objective: Terminate Project Shadow)_**

_Following G.U.N. protocol, all Project Shadow files were secured and sent back to home base for further observation._

_All scientists and personnel were arrested and sent back to Mobius for debriefing and facing potential charges. The head of the Project, Professor Gerald Robotnik, has been placed in maximum security holding at Prison Island, awaiting further questioning._

_Initial attempts to secure Project Shadow were a failure as it was launched to Mobius along with a second pod in the emergency escape system._

_Of the pods launched, we recovered one, Project Shadow, but the other was never found. It is assumed it contained the prototype to Project Shadow and burned up in the atmosphere._

* * *

Several monitors attached to Sonic beeped around him, indicating his body was still functioning properly.

Though he had already completed many of the preparations needed for surgery, Eggman had one more task to do. Now that Sonic was out, he would be able to wash his abdomen off and plan his incision marks. Thankfully, Sonic already lacked fur on his chest and belly, so it didn't need to be shaved first.

After carefully marking exactly where he was going to cut, he turned on the tape recorder next to him, preparing to take auditory notes of his procedure.

"Preparations for internal inspection of the second Ultimate Lifeform beginning at precisely 12:42 A.M."

* * *

"Excellent work, Shadow," Eggman congratulated the ebony hedgehog.

"Hmph."

Back aboard the ARK, the two figures walked down the quiet metal hallway, towards the medical bay.

"Come now, Shadow. No need to be so modest." Eggman attempted to pat Shadow on the shoulder, but the death glare he received deterred him from doing so. Shadow even had his fangs bared, as if threatening to bite him.

"Enough of your games, Doctor." Shadow crossed his arms, indicating he was serious. "I got you what you wanted. It's time to uphold your end of the bargain."

"Oh, all right. No need to take the fun out of everything." Rifling through the inner pockets of his jacket, Eggman procured a few pages of Prof. Gerald's journal and placed them in Shadow's outstretched hand.

Shadow looked through the pages, a frown on his face. The dates on the pages were out of order, and only a few. "These are only a few of the pages. Where is the rest of the journal?"

Now it was Eggman's turn to laugh. "I said I would give you the pages to my grandfather's journal. I didn't say anything about which pages you would get, which order you would get them in, or even how many at a time."

Within a moment, Eggman was half on the ground, the front of his jacket in Shadow's clenched fists.

"I believe I said enough with the games," Shadow growled, making sure his intentions were clear. "I will ask you only once. Where are the rest of the pages to Gerald Robotnik's journal?"

"If you want the other pages, you are going to have to work for them, just like you worked for these."

"What if I don't want to do your dirty work?" Shadow didn't like the idea of having to dirty his hands any further. The only reason he agreed to the mission was because he was promised Sonic would not be killed. He considered the blue hedgehog his brother and he made a promise to him. And that meant he definitely didn't want to sully his hands with his death or leave the planet prone to a takeover by Eggman.

"You're not captive here. You can leave any time you like, but the pages stay with me." Eggman smiled, knowing Shadow would have no choice but to accept his offer. It was no secret that Shadow was desperate to find any information he could about his past.

"Fine," Shadow gritted between clenched teeth. "But get this through your head, Doctor. I'm here for the journal pages and nothing more. I have no interest in power, or becoming one of your lackeys. And you better not hurt Sonic. Understand?"

Eggman pulled Shadow off of his jacket and stood up to his full height. "Fair enough. But if you ever decided to join Team Eggman, a spot will always be open for you."

"I'm going to check up on Sonic," Shadow said as he turned away from the fat man.

"Oh, Shadow!" Eggman called, suspiciously happy. "Before you visit your friend, why don't you relax on the observational deck and maybe read through a few of those pages? I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised."

Shadow looked down to the pages in his hand. He turned back around to question the doctor, but found he was already out of the hall, the metal doors closing shut behind him.

Not knowing what to expect, Shadow began reading the first few lines of the journal pages as he made his way to the observational deck.

_February 12th, 1953_

That was the day G.U.N. invaded the ARK. This was most likely the last page in the journal, made the morning of the attack.

Shadow was never really one to follow advice or take orders, but the observational deck was exactly where he went to clear his mind, and a clear mind was exactly what he needed.

For some odd reason, Eggman didn't want Sonic restrained after the 'procedure', and it was his job to make sure he didn't try anything foolish when he awoke.

Shadow settled down in front of the spectacular view of Mobius and took the journal pages out. Not knowing what to expect, but still hoping for the best, he began reading.

_It took a little longer than expected, approximately eight months longer than I expected, but alas, it was done._

_I was finally able to find a companion for Shadow..._

* * *

**(The ARK, Over 50 Years Ago)**

_"Shadow!" a young feminine voice echoed down the cold halls of the ARK. "Shadow, where are you?"_

_The voiced continued to travel until it reached the ears of the ebony hedgehog in the library. Shadow placed the book he was reading on the table in front of him, still open so he could return to his page later. He got up and stepped into the hallway, just in time to see his dear friend, Maria Robotnik, running towards him, excitement evident on her face._

_"Shadow!" she said cheerfully, grabbing his hand as soon as she reached him. "Shadow, come quick! Grandfather has a surprise for you!"_

_Intrigued, Shadow skated along at Maria's rate, allowing her to lead him by the hand to the ARK's laboratory._

_Inside, Gerald was already at his desk, taking notes with one hand at a quick pace. In his free arm was a bundle, wrapped up in a purple blanket._

_Gerald looked up from his work, happy to see his granddaughter had brought exactly who he was looking for. "Shadow, my boy, come here. I have a surprise for you." Gerald got up, walking a few feet before getting down on his knees so the bundle was at Shadow's level, motioning for the hedgehog to come closer._

_Shadow approached slowly._

_"Shadow, do you recall the conversation I had with you last month? The one about your future?" Gerald asked in a kind voice._

_"Yes." Shadow had been pulled aside not only to talk about his future but of Maria's as well. Though Gerald was working very hard on finding a cure for Maria's NIDS, eventually, she would expire, be it from the disease or reaching old age. The doctor himself would expire, and so would everyone on board the ARK. Unlike himself, they were not immortal. Shadow was completely aware of this already, but every now and then, Gerald would remind him, in order to keep Shadow in touch with reality. At the last chat they had, Gerald had promised that he would find a solution for this 'problem.'_

_"I have finally come up with a solution." Gerald lifted one arm out from underneath the bundle and pulled the wrapped blanket off of it._

_Inside was a small, cobalt hedgehog, no older than one year. His eyes were closed and his breathing slow._

_Shadow watched in silent amazement as the small, blue creature opened its eyes and stared back at the black hedgehog. His irises were black, but they seemed to have a hint of green along the edges._

_"What do you think, Shadow?" Maria asked, breaking him out of his thoughts._

_"Who is he?" Shadow asked, not quite understanding the situation._

_"Genetically, he is your younger brother," Gerald explained. "Like you, he is an Ultimate Lifeform born from the DNA of Queen Aleena and King Jules, who, as you remember, haven't been born yet. He does carry many different traits than you, as I'm sure you can see by the different fur color. His name will be Sonic."_

_"Sonic?" Shadow asked._

_"Yes. He will have the ability to run at the speed of sound. I'm sure you know what happens once you hit the sound barrier. You've done it several times yourself."_

_"Yes." Even Shadow had to admit the name was clever. "You get a sonic boom."_

_Maria simply watched from beside Shadow, a smile on her face as he got acquainted with the newest member of the family._

_"He's very... small..." Gerald could tell Shadow wanted to hold the small, blue hedgehog, which he allowed. The two hedgehogs stared at each other for a bit, completely mesmerized by each other. Shadow flinched a little as the tiny, cobalt hedgehog grabbed his chest fur. Rather than pull on it as Shadow had expected, 'Sonic' snuggled into the soft, white fur. Shadow felt his heart melt at this. He held the younger boar closer and rested his tan muzzle on the blue hedgehog's forehead, taking in his scent._

_"Looks like you two have taken a shine to each other," Gerald chuckled. "Like you, he will only age to a certain point before he reaches his full growth potential."_

_"How old will he be?"_

_"Once his age-progression is complete, he will be around your age, about 18 years old."_

_Shadow stared at the small hedgehog in his arms again with so many questions flying through his mind. __"Professor?" he said without taking his eyes off his future brother. "You have explained my purpose to me already. What will Sonic's purpose in life be?"_

_Gerald sometimes had to wonder where Shadow got his philosophical nature from. No doubt from Maria and her curious nature. There was really only one answer he had for Shadow, as he didn't know what kind of person Sonic would grow up to be. "To be your companion, your life-long friend. Sonic's purpose in life is to make sure you are never lonely, even long after Maria and I are gone from this world."_

_Shadow was speechless. Gerald, his father, loved him enough to make sure he would never be alone in life._

_"Don't think it's going to be all fun and games!" Maria teased her silent friend. "Siblings are a lot of work!"_

_"You know, she's right," Gerald joined in. "It's going to be your job to look out for him. As the older brother, you are expected to know better and to keep him out of trouble."_

_"Keep him out of trouble? Is he going to be mischievous?"_

_"I can't really know for sure, Shadow." Shadow handed Sonic back to Gerald, who wrapped Sonic back up in the blanket to keep him warm. "Personality is a choice he is going to make on his own. Just as you became the person you are; Sonic will decide who he will become." Gerald stood back up. "He will be the eldest of triplets, not counting you, of course. A few more decades and he will be ready to greet the world, but until then, you have to promise me you will take care of him."_

_"I promise."_

* * *

Shadow stood in front of the doors to the ARK's medical bay. He had absolutely no idea what to do or expect. So many things were running through his mind at the moment and some of it didn't make sense. He and Sonic were actually brothers!

The escape tube Shadow had been on was in the lab, along with the second tube that was never found. Was Sonic the creature in the second tube?

Shadow growled in frustration. It still didn't make any sense. If Sonic was in the second tube, how did he end up back in his proper time? How did he even get from the future to that present point in time? Why was Sonic never found during the day of the attack on the station?

He needed those other journal pages!

Shadow leaned forward to slam his face into the doors out of anger, but instead fell forwards as the doors slid open automatically.

Embarrassed to have done such a thing, Shadow quickly picked himself up off the floor. Thankfully, no one was around to have seen that.

He looked over to the occupied hospital bed and felt his heart sink immediately. Sonic, his little brother, the one he had promised his father-figure he would protect, lay on the bed in front of him, stitches running down his front and several monitors plugged into him as he slept.

He may not have had any recollection of ever making that promise, but Shadow still felt awful for agreeing to do this to Sonic.

Slowly, he approached the sleeping hedgehog, stopping just in front of his bed.

On Sonic's chest, covering the stitches, was a wet towel. A frown graced Shadow's features.

_'Why is this here?' _he thought angrily. Shadow took the towel off Sonic's chest and threw it on the floor. _'It's unsanitary. Who knows what microbes are crawling all over the towel, seeping into Sonic's wound. Was that even a clean towel? It's going to give him an infection!'_

Shadow kicked the towel away, not wanting to further compromise Sonic's health. He sat on his knees and folded his arms on the bed, resting his chin on them as he watched the cobalt hedgehog sleep. He felt his eyelids get heavy as he drifted off to sleep, letting out a small snore. _'Don't worry, Sonic. I'll take care of you, little brother.'_


	3. Chapter 3- Awakening

**Please read and review! I hope you enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER**: I do NOT own _Sonic the Hedgehog_!

* * *

For the second time, Sonic awoke in the medical bay.

His vision was much clearer now, but his headache was replaced with a fire-like burning feeling running down his chest to his stomach. He was not restrained this time around, and found his hands free to move about.

Sonic moved his arms to test his strength, but quickly stopped as the pain in his chest intensified, reaching an unbearable level.

"Aargh!" he shouted, closing his eyes to stop the tears while dropping his arm back to his side. When he opened his eyes again, Shadow was standing over him, a look of concern over his face.

"Are you in pain?" he asked.

Forgetting about his current predicament, Sonic glared at him. "No, not at all! Everything's fine and dandy! Sunshine and roses! I've never been better!" Ignoring the fact it was making his pain worse, Sonic turned over so his back was all Shadow could see.

Choosing to ignore Sonic's sarcasm, Shadow continued. "Just tell me what's wrong."

Sonic remained silent.

Shadow was slightly put off by Sonic's reaction. The fact that the hedgehog before him was actually related to him was still having a tough time registering in his mind along with pretty much everything else he knew about him.

"Come on, Faker. Let me help!" Shadow said in frustration. The one being left in the world who was his family (that he actually liked) was angry with him, and rightfully so. Even though he had told him what would happen, what he did was still wrong.

"You can help by getting out of my sight!"

Now Shadow was beginning to get a little irritated at Sonic's childish behavior. The great hero of Mobius had resorted to using the silent treatment as if he were three years old.

"I'm just trying to help you. What's wrong with you?"

Sonic tuned himself over once more so he was facing Shadow again. "What's wrong with _me_?!" he shouted, which wasn't very loud, given his present state. "What's wrong with _you_?! You're working for Eggman! Again!" Sonic gripped the metal rails lining the hospital and pulled himself up so he was at eye level with Shadow. "What do you think you're going to accomplish? How many times have we gone through this?"

"You think I _want _to work for him? He's the only one who can help me right now! I told you, I'm only doing this to get the pages to Professor Gerald's journal!"

"Help you?! The only person Eggman helps is himself!" Supporting himself with one arm, Sonic grabbed his chest and closed his eyes, unable to ignore the pain any longer.

Shadow's eyes widened as he saw the stitches on Sonic's chest begin bleeding. "Sonic, you're bleeding!" He reached over and firmly grasped the cobalt hedgehog's shoulders. "You need to calm down. I promised you that I'd get you out of this, and I will." He tried to ease Sonic back into the bed, but the stubborn hedgehog refused.

Sonic brought his arm back to his chest. He felt his stomach churning and immediately leaned over the hospital bed. Within seconds, the floors were covered with vomit.

Knowing the vomiting probably took the last ounces of energy out of Sonic, Shadow grabbed his shoulders again and successfully eased him back into a laying position. He would have propped Sonic up on his back, to help ease the nausea he was feeling, but that would have only put stress on the stitches, which were still leaking blood, so he settled for laying him completely on his back.

Working quickly, Shadow pulled some clean towels out from one of the cabinets in the room and used it to wipe the vomit off of Sonic's face.

Sonic was dazed. He had never before felt so exhausted in his life. Breathing itself seemed to take too much energy.

Not knowing what else he could do, Shadow ran calling, "I'll be back!" to Sonic as he was out the door. He sped through the ARK, searching for the one who had caused his little brother all this pain.

* * *

He found Eggman in the ARK's workshop, tinkering away on some machinery.

"Doctor, Sonic is bleeding!" Shadow burst out as he almost broke the sliding doors down in his rush to get into the workshop.

"Eh?" Eggman looked up from his machine. "Oh, right. He'll be fine. Minor bleeding from stitches is normal after a surgery."

"He's in pain."

Eggman waved, indicating the matter wasn't important to him. "He'll be fine. He _is_ an Ultimate Lifeform after all, as I'm sure you know by now. You know what they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." As he was about to continue working, he felt a crushing grip on his shoulder.

"He needs care. _Now_." Shadow's voice may have been calm and collected, but the fierce look in his blood-red eyes left no room for argument.

"All right, all right, no need to be like that." Eggman casually brushed Shadow's hand off, not frightened by the implied threat at all. "Follow me."

The two walked together towards the medical bay, though Shadow wished Eggman would pick up the pace.

"Why so nice to Sonic all of a sudden?" Eggman asked tauntingly. "Taking your role as 'big brother' seriously? Or, perhaps, you found out that he's the Crown Prince of Mobotropolis?"

It was no surprise to Shadow that Eggman had read through the journal. It did belong to his grandfather after all, making him the rightful successor to it. Had that not been the case, Shadow would have simply taken the journal and not had to go through any of this trouble. Then again, there was the issue of him not knowing where it was. What _did_ surprise him, however, was that Eggman figured out that he knew Sonic's darkest secret.

"Giving me the cold shoulder, eh? Fine, be that way."

Once they arrived, Eggman began pulling more supplies out while Shadow stood by Sonic.

Sonic must have either fallen asleep or fallen unconscious as he was unresponsive with his eyes shut when Shadow called his name.

As Eggman seated himself on a stool next to Sonic's bed he took the hedgehog's arm and held it out, preparing to give him an injection.

Shadow quickly put his hands on top of the syringe, stopping it before it could be injected into Sonic.

"What is this?" he asked, wanting to know exactly what Eggman was doing.

"This is just a pain reliever." Eggman continued his work, finding the proper vein in Sonic's arm and emptied the contents of the syringe into it. Next, he cut the bandages off of Sonic's torso and gently wiped the blood off of them. "This," He showed Shadow a white tube of cream. "is antibiotic ointment. It will stop the stitches from getting infected. It's going to need to be applied every time his bandages are changed." After applying the ointment and putting a fresh set of gauze around the stitches, Eggman handed a bottle of pills to Shadow. "If he wakes up and still feels nauseous have him take one of these every four to six hours."

Shadow took the bottle from Eggman, reading the label to be sure it wasn't some kind of poison.

"Now," Eggman stood up, removing the sterile gloves from his hands and tossing them into the garbage can. "If you don't mind, I need to get back to my work. The Eggman Empire isn't going to build itself." Just as he was halfway out the door, he stopped, hearing Shadow call his name.

"Doctor!"

"Yes?"

"If you value your life, I recommend you don't do anything like this again."

Eggman couldn't help but be amused, seeing Shadow be protective of Sonic. Just two weeks ago, the ebony hedgehog couldn't have cared less about him. "Don't worry; I got the information I needed. Besides, it was a good thing I did. Give it a week or two, and he would have been in a lot more pain than he is now."

Shadow wanted to question him further, but the doors had already shut behind him. He turned back to Sonic and sat beside him on the bed.

* * *

**(Seven Days Later)**

"Tails!" Amy banged on the door to the fox's workshop in Mystic Ruins. "Tails, open this door up right now!"

Inside the workshop, Tails groaned. He was way too comfortable in his bed at the moment.

"I know you're in there, Tails!" Amy continued calling from outside. "Wake up!"

Throwing off the covers, Tails rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and headed downstairs. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" he yelled back to Amy. "Don't break my door down!" He scurried down the stairs in hopes of not having to replace yet another door destroyed by Amy's Piko Piko Hammer.

"Tails!" Amy almost shouted as soon as the door opened. "Where is Sonic?"

Tails glanced at the clock on the wall. "Amy, it's five in the morning. Couldn't this wait?"

"Tails, I'm serious! Have you seen Sonic these past few days? At all?"

Now that he thought about it, Shadow had told him that he and Sonic would be gone for a while, though he didn't say where they were going or how long they'd be gone. He knew that Amy didn't really trust Shadow, so he decided to try stalling. "Amy, you know Sonic sometimes leaves for a few days at a time. He's probably off running on the other side of the planet right now."

Amy knew this was true, after all Sonic enjoyed his freedom. "I know, but… I just feel like something is wrong. I mean, neither Eggman nor any other baddy has attacked in a while either, and it's just raising some alarm bells in my head."

Tails thought it over for a moment. "Well, it is weird that no one has used Sonic's absence as an excuse to attack like they usually do." To be hones, he still didn't fully trust Shadow, especially if he had something to do with Sonic's disappearance. "And, well... Shadow _did_ tell me that he and Sonic would be gone for a while, although he didn't say where they were going or how long they'd be gone."

"What?!" Amy practically screamed it. "Shadow took him?!"

"Amy, Shadow moved in with us two weeks ago. Didn't you hear about that?" Tails asked.

"No!" Amy said, shocked. "What if Shadow kidnapped him and is torturing him?!"

"Amy, I think you're overreacting. Shadow has been really nice lately," Tails assured her. "Although, I admit that I still don't fully trust him. We can check with Knuckles; he might know where they went."

"Yes, thank you Tails!" Amy wrapped her arms around him, giving him a bone-crushing hug.

"Amy... please... can't... breathe..."

* * *

After convincing Amy to wait until sunrise, and managing to get a few more hour of sleep, Tails was up and ready to journey through the jungle.

"I still can't believe you wanted to wait until morning," Amy said as they flew, in the Tornado, to the ancient echidna city.

"Come on, Amy. Do you really think it would be a good idea to wake up Knuckles? Have you ever seen him when he doesn't get enough sleep?"

Amy knew Tails was right. There was no way any progress would be made if Knuckles got into one of his tempers again. "Fair enough."

After clearing the jungle, the two walked towards the rickety wooden bridge, connecting the Ancient Shrine to the rest of Angel Island.

"Hey, Knuckles!" Amy called out as they got closer.

Knuckles cracked an eye open from his spot in front of the Master Emerald. He had been awake for an hour at this point, only resting because he had finished training for the morning. "Amy, Tails." He stood up and climbed down the steps of the shrine to greet them.

"Hi, Knuckles," Tails began. "Sorry to show up so early, but we-"

"Sonic's been missing for a whole week, Shadow took him, and we have no idea where he is, so we were wondering you had seen him around!" Amy said quickly in one breath, cutting Tails off.

"DID YOU SAY SHADOW TOOK HIM?!" Knuckles spat.

"Yeah. Shadow told me that he and Sonic would be gone for a while," Tails informed the red echidna.

Knuckles calmed down a bit. "He didn't tell you where they were going?!"

"No," Tails responded. "He said that he didn't know how long they'd be gone and that I'd have to take care of myself until they got back, but he'd check on me every once in a while."

"Do you really think that Shadow is trustworthy?" Knuckles growled. "I mean, he's not the friendliest guy in the world and he doesn't really make the best decisions."

"Well, he has been awfully nice in the week that he's been living with us, especially to Sonic, and Sonic seems to trust him, but..." Tails trailed off. "I still don't exactly trust him myself."

"Well, Shadow is our best bet of finding Sonic, so..." Amy started.

"If we find Shadow, we'll find Sonic," Knuckles finished. Tails nodded in agreement. In a flash, the three Mobians were off, sprinting through the jungle.


	4. Chapter 4- Shadow's Problem

**Please read and review! I hope you enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER**: I do NOT own _Sonic the Hedgehog_!

* * *

Shadow leaned against the wall in the medical bay, panting hard. His skin was a bit pale and his eyes were a little glassy too. Sonic noticed from his bed and immediately became concerned for his big brother.

"Are you okay, Shadow?" Sonic asked worriedly. "Is your... condition... getting to you?"

Shadow groaned softly. "Yeah. I'll be okay, though," he said, his voice a bit weak. "I'm going to go on a hunt." He started to leave.

Sonic cocked his head a little. "Is that gonna help?"

"Yeah," Shadow replied. _'For now...'_ he added to himself. "Will you be okay by yourself for a while?"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Considering that I'm not allowed to leave this bed, yeah," he said sarcastically.

Shadow decided to ignore Sonic's sarcasm. "Do you need anything while I'm gone?" he asked gently.

"No."

Shadow left to go on his hunt.

* * *

**(One Week Later****)**

Looking around, Shadow ensured there were no guards in sight before removing the lid to the ventilation shaft. Below him was his target, the Chaos Emerald.

After discovering it, the Station Square population had determined that the best place to keep the Emerald was in a museum. Unfortunately for them, Dr. Eggman had decided it would do better to be in his possession.

Shadow dropped from the air vent above, landing directly in front of the cased Emerald.

The mission itself didn't call for stealth, in fact, quite the opposite; he was under orders to make as much of a ruckus as possible. Eggman wanted the world to know he was up to another one of his schemes again. According to him, it was boring without a challenge. Besides, with Sonic stuck on the ARK there really wouldn't be any challenge.

Regardless, Shadow wanted to grab the Emerald before the guards, or worse, a certain white bat, showed up. Shadow pulled his fist back, channeling his Chaos Energy into it, and punched right through the bullet-proof glass.

Sirens across the museum began ringing one by one.

In a flash, Shadow grabbed the Chaos Emerald and took off to complete his second mission objective. Stopping in front of the wall, he brought out a container of blood Eggman had given him, specifically to deliver the message to the people of Mobius. Removing his glove to avoid staining it, Shadow dipped his fingers into the blood and wrote directly onto the wall. _'Your hero won't save you now'_

After licking the blood off of his fingers, he put his glove back on and drank the rest of the blood, satisfying his clinical vampirism for the time being. He then left to finish his mission.

* * *

_"Over 100 million dollars' worth of damages incurred last night as Shadow the Hedgehog broke into the Station Square Museum of History and Art. And although paleontologists say they may be able to fix some of the damage, we have yet to know why Shadow the Hedgehog chose to target the museum or why he stole the Chaos Emerald. Perhaps the most baffling mystery of the night is the ominous message he left on the wall: 'Your hero won't save you now.' What makes this message even more ominous is that it appears to have been written in blood. This is Scarlett Garcia, signing off."_

Tails hit the power button on the remote, turning the news report off.

"Now he's taunting us!" Amy could have smashed the coffee table in half with her bare hands from how angry she was.

"True," Knuckles added.

"You don't think Rouge had something to do with Sonic's disappearance, do you?" Tails asked.

"Probably not. She's not into that kind of thing." Knuckles knew the bat all too well from her countless attempts to steal the Master Emerald from him. Rouge was willing to stoop to some pretty low levels, but murder-kidnapping was not one of them. "But she's worked with Shadow before. She might have some clue of his whereabouts, and that's more information than we have now."

"Right!" Amy said excitedly, finally happy to have some other form of a lead on Sonic. "So let's go pay Rouge a visit."

"If we go as a group, it'll draw too much attention. I've dealt with Rouge before, I'll go meet with her tonight at her club."

* * *

Sonic lay motionless on the bed, glaring at Eggman as he carefully cut and removed the stitches running down Sonic's abdomen.

On the other side of the bed stood Shadow, also glaring holes at the fat doctor. He was there mostly to insure Eggman didn't try anything funny, but he was also there trying to figure out what to do. No matter how hard he thought about it, he still had no idea how to approach Sonic about his recent discovery. Somehow, Shadow figured the idea of walking up to Sonic and saying 'Hey, guess what, Sonic! We're related. I was made with your parents' DNA' wouldn't exactly appease the blue hedgehog. It would leave him with so many questions, questions Shadow didn't have the answer to. At least, not yet.

Choosing to ignore the two hedgehogs, Eggman cut off the last few stitches and handed Sonic a washcloth so he could clean off the suture residue and any blood droplets that remained. "Look at that, you've healed up quite nicely. You don't even have a scar to show for it."

Sonic stopped to give Eggman another glare before continuing his self-grooming.

"Don't give me that look." Eggman kicked the ground at Sonic's bed, using the momentum to wheel himself to a collection of specimen jars on the opposite end of the medical bay. "You should actually be thanking me." He grabbed one of the smaller jars before wheeling his way back to the two hedgehogs. "Do you have any idea what these are?" He handed the jar to Sonic.

Sonic examined the jar with a look of confusion on his face. Inside, were several small, yellow-green pebbles, ranging from the size of a pin-head to a marble. "Rocks?"

"Close. They're stones. The real question is, what kind of stones?"

"Stones?" Sonic asked, not exactly understanding how some rocks would warrant him expressing gratitude to the mad genius.

"Kidney stones?" Shadow guessed, already having a vague idea of how rocks and surgery could be related to each other.

"Almost. They're gallstones." Eggman looked like he was about to pat himself on the back. "Seems like a certain someone has a diet high in fat."

"That makes two of us," Sonic chuckled under his breath. Shadow snickered.

Eggman's face fell at the snide comment. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

"But in all seriousness, what are these?" Even Sonic had to wonder how exactly little rocks ended up inside of him.

"Gallstones. They form for a variety of reasons, but judging from the color of yours, they formed because your gallbladder has too much cholesterol. A diet of nothing but chili dogs and junk food will do that to you."

"Why, thank you, Doctor," Sonic responded sarcastically, though secretly happy to have an answer. "How much do I owe you?" he tacked on playfully.

"This one's on the house," Eggman joked back.

"I don't suppose you did this out of the goodness of your heart and are planning to send me off on my way now?" Though his tone still held an air of playfulness to it, Sonic was genuinely hoping this was the case, even though his instincts told him better. The stitches may have been out, but he was still full of pain-killers and antibiotics, leaving him mostly groggy and in no condition to run.

"Oh, you're more than welcome to run free as you please," Eggman began, raising Sonic's hopes. "As long as you agree to join me."

Should Sonic's hopes have materialized, they would have crashed to the ground in an impact strong enough to wipe out the dinosaurs. "Very funny, Eggman. My answer is no."

"You're physically okay to move around now, but I suggest you get comfortable. Until you agree to join the Eggman empire, you won't be going anywhere for a long time."

Sonic raised an eyebrow at the threat, almost smirking. "You going to throw me in a dungeon or something?"

Eggman stood up, removing the latex gloves from his hands and disposing of them in a bio-waste bin. "No need for that here."

"What?"

"I'm sure Shadow would be more than happy to fill you in on everything."

At the mention of his name, Shadow snapped out of his thoughts and back to reality. "What?"

"I'll be in my workshop if you need anything, or change your mind."

"Unlikely," Sonic scoffed as he watched Eggman leave through the automatic sliding doors. As soon as he was gone, Sonic turned his attention to Shadow. "So, are we busting out, or not?"

"I…" Shadow was at a loss for words. Part of him wanted to get Sonic out of here, knowing Eggman was lying through his teeth. If Sonic was an Ultimate Lifeform, the gallstones shouldn't have been a problem. Sure, Sonic had a lousy diet, but never once had he complained about any sort of stomach pain. Shadow theorized they were a common occurrence in Sonic, but his advanced bodily functions simply took care of them. Eggman had most likely cut Sonic open to get a look at his insides and grabbed the stones as he closed Sonic up to cover his true intentions. Still, it probably wasn't a good idea to get Sonic so worked up while he was still recovering. "I don't think it's really possible to break out of here, per sé."

Sonic frowned and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'not possible'?" When Shadow didn't respond, Sonic felt his annoyance rising. "Where exactly is 'here'?"

It never occurred to Shadow that the medical bay was windowless. It had been the only room Sonic had been in since he brought him in two weeks ago, and, as far as he knew, Eggman had never shared details about where they were.

"Never mind." Sonic gripped the edge of the hospital bed and threw his legs over the edge, landing on the ground, and standing up for the first time since his surgery. "I'll just figure it out myself."

Shadow watched as his younger brother took a few shaky steps before letting go of the metal railing and walking steadily on his own. He followed close behind, just in case Sonic lost his balance.

It didn't take long for Sonic to learn exactly where he was. As soon as he stepped past the sliding doors into the hallway, the massive windows lining the hall revealed exactly where he was. Sonic gasped as he walked up to the window and gazed down at the planet below them. "We're on... the ARK?"

"Yes. We are."

"Why? Why are we here? What is Eggman doing that he came back to this place?"

"I don't know," Shadow confessed. "Probably just hiding up here. You and I already destroyed the Eclipse Cannon the last time we were here, so it's not like he can use it to blow up the planet."

"Shadow, you don't know what he's up to, but you're willing to help him. What if he figured out a way to fix the Cannon? What if he tries something else to destroy the planet? Are you going to stand by and let him do it?"

"Sonic, I made a promise to protect the planet and I fully intend to stand by it. I also promised to stay by your side, and help you escape. I am here for only one reason. I need information about my past and Eggman is the only person with that. I'm not here for revenge and my loyalties certainly do not lie with the Eggman Empire. You know that."

"I'm sorry, Shadow," Sonic sighed, rubbing his temples. "I just... can't think straight."

"That's probably the painkillers and antibiotics," Shadow added, putting his arm around Sonic's shoulders. He let out a sigh as he led Sonic to one of the sofas. "Come on, why don't you sit down? We need to talk."

Sonic was confused, but didn't argue. "What's up, Shads?" he asked as they sat down on the sofa.

"There's something you need to know. I want you to read these." Shadow drew out the few pages from Gerald's journal he had. "I'll try to explain everything after that."

The two of them sat there for a while in complete silence as Sonic read through the papers multiple times.

After what felt like an eternity to Shadow, Sonic finally looked up from the journal pages and spoke. "So, we're actually brothers, huh?"

"Yes."

"Did you know this when you basically kidnapped me?" Sonic's voice held absolutely no trace of his happy-go-lucky nature.

"No, I only found out after, and I'm sorry-" Shadow stopped when he saw Sonic hold his hand up.

"Did you get the rest of the journal pages?"

"No. That's the only reason why I'm working for Eggman," Shadow said, a bit frustrated. Sonic put his hand on Shadow's shoulder comfortingly. After they discussed things a bit longer, Sonic fell asleep on Shadow's shoulder and Shadow fell asleep as well.


	5. Chapter 5- Agent Rouge

**I keep forgetting to add this: this story is heavily inspired by user Queen Reverie's story, Ultimate Life Forms, so credit to them for inspiration.**

**Please**** read and review! I hope you enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER**: I do NOT own _Sonic the Hedgehog_!

* * *

Making his way through the crowd, Knuckles pushed his way through the much taller humans until he finally reached his destination. If he had to give credit to Rouge for one thing, it would be that she certainly knew how to throw a party.

A few months ago, Rouge had gone out of her way to open a casino and night club, the Club Rouge. The humans came at first simply because she was an anthro whom did not make public appearances often and they wanted a chance to see her. They kept coming back after the great time they would have with all of the events Rouge would constantly have in her club.

He hated every part of it. Knuckles only even entered Club Rouge when he had no other choice. To him, the music was too loud, the humans too obnoxious, the lights too flashy, and the owner too much a pain in his rear to want to see every day.

Spotting Rouge, Knuckles pushed his way to the bar.

Rouge floated behind the counter, preparing drinks for her guests and conversing with some of the patrons. Though she had a bartender on her payroll, and a whole staff to run the place for that matter, she still chose to do some minor work in her club every now and then when she wasn't saving the world with G.U.N.

Finally arriving, Knuckles seated himself as he hopped onto one of the barstools.

Upon noticing her newest patron, Rouge turned her attention to Knuckles. She gave him a wink, as she served the drink she had just prepared to someone who was clearly on their last drink.

"Hey, big guy," she said in her usual flirtatious matter as she drifted to Knuckles, settling down slightly so they were eye to eye from behind the bar. "What can I get you?"

"Some aspirin. Why is the music so loud?" He practically had to shout to her.

"It's not loud, you're just a grumpy old man."

"Old? We're the same age!"

Rouge scoffed in a playful manner. "Are we talking in spirit or body?"

Gritting his teeth to keep his temper under control, Knuckles got straight to business. "Is there some place more... private we could speak?" It probably wouldn't be a good idea if the humans learned their great hero, Sonic, had gone missing. They did have a tendency to panic over the smallest things.

"Oh, Knuckles," Rouge continued to mercilessly taunt him, placing her hand over her chest as if she were taken aback. "I couldn't possibly now, I'm working. But if you really want, you can always meet me later tonight in my room..."

Having had enough, he slammed his fist on the bar and cursed her out, shocking the humans around them. "This is serious!"

Rouge dropped her act quickly, frowning at the red echidna. "All right, all right, don't scare my customers away." She looked past Knuckles, onto the club floor. Getting the attention of one of her attendants, she motioned for the young woman to come over. "Find Carl and tell him to take over the bar for me. I have something I need to attend to."

As soon as the young man returned to his post as bartender, the two anthros made their way to the back of the club and entered a door marked 'Employees Only.'

The back of the club was much quieter, soundproof as a matter of fact, considering it was where Rouge stayed. The club may have been open all night long, but even she needed sleep. And her employees needed a place to relax when they were on break.

Knuckles followed Rouge to her own private office at the very far end of the hall. He took a seat in the chair directly across from the desk as Rouge closed and locked the door before shutting the blinds.

"Are you sure you don't want anything?" she asked as she seated herself across from the guardian. "I can phone the chef and have him bring something up for you."

"I'm fine, Rouge," he responded coolly, finding it easier to control his nerves when there wasn't music blasting so loudly.

"All right, so let's get to it. What's going on?"

"It's Sonic. No one has seen him in two weeks. Tails said that Shadow told him that he and Sonic would be gone for a while, but didn't say where they were going. He stole a Chaos Emerald last night and left a message that implied that Sonic was dead."

Now Rouge's interest was really piqued. "And you don't think he really killed him?" She had experience working with Shadow. She knew he was capable of ending a life, but he refuses to kill the innocent. Rouge also knew that Shadow had been growing a soft spot for Sonic. Plus, she noticed that the two boars seemed to be growing pretty close to each other since Mobotropolis. Yet at the same time, she knew the ebony hedgehog had to be up to something. He usually came in the club at least once or twice a week to say hello. He had not showed up for about two weeks, fitting the timeline of Sonic's disappearance.

"No. Sonic wouldn't go down that easily. Besides, we haven't found his body yet, so we can't rule out the possibility that he's still alive. Plus, you've noticed how close they've been lately. Since Mobotropolis, I've only seen Shadow without Sonic once."

"So what do you have to work with?" Rouge asked.

"Quite frankly... nothing."

"Nothing?" That wasn't what she wanted to hear. Both she and Knuckles were expert treasure hunters, but no amount of skill could help you when you have no leads or clues. "Well, you came to me for a reason. What is it you wanted from me?"

"Well... you have access to resources. Resources none of us have. Resources we could use to find Sonic."

Rouge knew the echidna was referencing her connections with G.U.N. "So you basically want supplies and information from me?"

"Yes. What do you say?"

Rouge was silent for a moment as she thought it over. "All right. Sonic's saved my behind on several occasions, so I'll just consider this favor a repayment for those times. Count me in."

"Thanks. I'll let the others know. We'll keep you updated on anything we find." Knuckles stood up, preparing to leave.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay for a drink? On me?" Rouge offered once more.

"Not tonight, Rouge."

* * *

**("Eyecatch" Card)**

Name: Prince Sonic Speed (the) Hedgehog

Age: 18

Species: Hedgehog

Height: 3' 3"

Weight: 77 lbs.

Fur Color: Cobalt Blue

Eye Color: Emerald Green

Skin Color: Tan-ish Peach

Power: Hypersonic Speed, Enhanced Reflexes, Supernormal Strength, Enhanced Hearing, Enhanced Vision, Enhanced Smell, and Chaos Powers

Titles: Crown Prince of Mobotropolis/Lost Prince of Mobotropolis; Fastest Thing Alive; Knight of the Wind; Blue Blur/Blue Wind; Ultimate Lifeform

* * *

**("Eyecatch" Card)**

Name: Shadow Dark (the) Hedgehog

Age: 18 (Biologically) 53 (Chronologically)

Species: Hedgehog/Black Arms Hybrid

Height: 3' 3"

Weight: 77 lbs.

Fur Color: Black, Red, White

Eye Color: Ruby Red

Skin Color: Tan

Power: Hypersonic Speed, Enhanced Reflexes, Supernormal Strength, Enhanced Hearing, Enhanced Vision, Enhanced Smell, and Chaos Powers

Title: Ultimate Lifeform; Black Wind/Black Blur

* * *

Scourge the Hedgehog (whom Eggman has also recruited and is Sonic's evil counterpart from another dimension) leaned back in his armchair, flipping the page to the magazine in his lap. He wasn't much of a reader himself, hence the fact he picked out a magazine in a library filled with books, but the pictures were pretty cool to look at.

The metallic doors slid open as a blue blur ran past the green hedgehog, the force of his speed sending a burst of air to his face, turning the page of his magazine in the process.

Not phased at all, Scourge turned the page of his magazine back, continuing to read the captions underneath the pictures.

A few seconds later, the blue blur returned, coming in from the opposite direction and causing Scourge's magazine to flip pages again.

With a sigh, Scourge closed the magazine in his lap and set it aside on the table beside his armchair. This had been going on for twenty minutes straight. Sonic was just running back and forth nonstop, and it was making it hard to do anything. "Blue..."

Sonic ran past him.

"Blue..."

Sonic ran past him the other way once more.

"Blue!" Scourge stuck his leg out, tripping Sonic as he came back into the library. "Relax, will you?!"

"Relax?!" Sonic picked himself up and faced his green counterpart. "I'm going crazy in here!"

He may have been free to roam the ARK, but it turned out he only had access to about half the station. He learned this through mostly trial and error, approaching a door to see if it would open for him or not. Eggman must have been trying to keep him from reaching anything that could help him potentially escape, or he would have given him complete access, like he did with Scourge and Shadow. Unable to cope with his frustration, Sonic rolled up into a ball and began bouncing around the library.

"I need to run!" he shouted as Scourge ducked to avoid him. "I've been stuck in that medical bay for so long!"

"Then just go tell the fat man you'll work for him." Scourge leaned back into his armchair.

Sonic stopped in front of Scourge. "I'm not going to work for him! In case you haven't noticed, I'm a good guy!"

"Just do a bait-and-switch. Say you'll work for him then make a run for it."

"In case you haven't noticed, that man's an evil genius. You really think he hasn't thought I'd try something like that? He'd probably stick a tracking device on me or take someone hostage to make sure I don't disobey any of his orders." Exasperated, Sonic dropped himself into the armchair across from Scourge.

Both ideas were actually on Eggman's list of potential ways to get Sonic to work for him, but Scourge figured he better keep his mouth shut and not freak out the blue hedgehog even more. "Here." He reached over to the box below his arm chair and grabbed a can before tossing it to Sonic. "Unwind for a bit."

Sonic caught the can, checking to see what it was. Beer. "I don't need to unwind!" He tossed the drink into the library's garbage can from his armchair. "I need to find a way out of here!" In a flash, he was out the door again.

"That was a perfectly good beer you know!" Scourge could have walked to the garbage can and gotten it himself, but that would mean having to get out of his chair. With another sigh, he picked up the magazine he had earlier and placed it, open, over his face, hoping to fall asleep.


	6. Chapter 6- Doctor's Orders

**Please read and review! I hope you enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER**: I do NOT own _Sonic the Hedgehog_!

* * *

"Topaz, I've got a mission for you."

Topaz looked upwards to her anthropomorphic partner with a questioning glance. "I didn't receive any memos about an upcoming mission." It was much too soon to be going out on another as she was currently at her desk, filling out the debriefing paperwork about her last mission. She had not even been back a full twenty four hours yet!

"This is sort of a... personal favor for a friend."

"Rouge, I'm not helping you steal jewelry."

Rouge cracked a smile, resisting the urge to laugh. Her partner knew her too well, but for once, stealing precious stones was not on her personal agenda. "It's a little more important than that. Tell you what, why don't you take a break? Let me treat you to some coffee and we can talk this over."

Topaz supposed a break wouldn't hurt. "All right then."

* * *

"Now, what's so important that you came to me for help?" Topaz sipped her coffee, genuinely curious for an answer.

"It's about everyone's favorite hero, Sonic."

"What about Sonic?"

"He's... gone missing."

"Missing?" Topaz asked in surprise. "Are you sure?" The press would be all over this if they found out.

"For the most part. No one's seen him in weeks and it's been awful quiet lately. Too quiet."

"You think Eggman had something to do with his disappearance?"

"Who else could it be?" It was no surprise Eggman wanted Sonic out of his way. Even if it was Eggman who was behind Sonic's disappearance, Rouge knew this wouldn't have been the first time he had attempted an ambush on the blue speedster.

"Okay." Topaz followed everything Rouge was saying, but there was still one question on her mind. "What exactly do you want from me?" She had no information about Sonic's alleged disappearance. "Do you want me to help you look for him?"

"Not quite." With her and the others looking for Sonic, there would be enough people searching. If too many people got involved, someone was bound to get suspicious and wonder who/what exactly they were looking for. "I can't say for sure now, but in the future, I might need your help accessing certain resources."

"Resources? What kind of resources?"

"Information and maybe technology. You have more clearance for these certain kinds of things than I do."

"Why don't you just take this up with the president directly? He loves having you in G.U.N., you know he'd be more than willing to give you clearance for anything."

"I know that, but we're trying to keep this low profile." After the whole ARK and Project Shadow fiasco had come to light, it seemed the newspapers were doing everything in their power to stick their noses in government business. Rouge didn't understand or care for politics, but she was smart enough to know paranoia and fear were bad motivators.

"I understand. And I think I know how to start."

"Let's hear it."

"Well, let's say hypothetically, Sonic was kidnapped. At some point during the struggle, I'm sure he might have tried getting away by running at his top speed, meaning he must have broken the sound barrier, making a sonic boom. We can use G.U.N. satellites to see if there have been any sonic booms around Station Square."

"So you'll help then?"

"You mean work off the clock for no pay without any regards for social or romantic obligations I may have?"

Rouge raised an eyebrow. "Binge watching crime dramas with a frozen dinner on a Friday night does not count as a social or romantic obligation."

Topaz sighed. Rouge knew her all too well. "Yes, I'll help."

* * *

Shadow set the journal pages down on the desk in his personal dormitory. He had read through them several times already, to the point where he had nearly memorized them word-for word, but he still found himself looking over them again and again. He was feeling so many different things, it was intolerable.

Happiness; he still had family. Anger; Eggman could have sent a bunch of robots and Scourge to capture Sonic, but no, he sent him instead.

There was no point in pulling his quills out over it. He was just going to have to work with what he had.

Standing up, Shadow folded the journal pages up and put them away in a drawer in the desk. Pushing the chair in neatly, he exited the small room and made his way down the hall, in search of Sonic.

Hopefully his brother would be in a better mood, but he couldn't really blame him if he wasn't. He was only barely released from the medical bay, so Sonic's pain might cause him to be a little more irritable than usual.

Entering what was once the staff lounge to the ARK scientists, Shadow spotted Scourge sprawled out on the couch, watching television.

"Where's Sonic?" he asked, knowing Scourge had probably attempted to bother him at some point in the day.

"Give it a moment," the green hedgehog responded without taking his eyes of the program. Surprisingly, the ARK was able to pick up television signals from Mobius. For equipment that was over 50 years old, Scourge had to admit it was pretty impressive.

Shadow was confused, but as Scourge said, only for a moment. In an instant, Sonic ran past the two hedgehogs in a flash of blue.

"He's been doing that for about..." Scourge looked to the clock on the wall. "Four hours now." The only reason Scourge was watching television was because of Sonic's constant running. It was impossible to do anything else without the whiplash or the blue speedster himself getting in the way. Thanks to Sonic's speed, he never really noticed when he passed in front of the television.

"Four hours?" Shadow asked in disbelief. Sonic was still recovering from surgery! Four hours of strenuous running was only going to destroy his insides. It wouldn't kill him per sé, but it sure would put him in a lot of pain and significantly slow down the healing process. Shadow knew how stubborn Sonic was. His brother probably was in a lot of pain, but was just choosing to ignore it.

Sonic ran past them once more.

Having seen him come and go, Shadow had a good idea of how long it would take Sonic to make his way back to them. He remained where he was for a few moments, counting down the seconds. In the exact moment the door opened, Shadow stepped in Sonic's path, bracing for impact.

Running too fast to stop suddenly, Sonic found himself crashing directly into Shadow.

Having been prepared for him, Shadow only slid back a few feet, holding Sonic by his shoulders.

"What do you think you're doing?!" he shouted at him, resisting the urge to shake some sense into him.

"Going crazy, what does it look like?!" Sonic shouted back. He wasn't exactly having the time of his life on board the space station.

"You're supposed to be taking it easy. You want to end up in the medical bay again?" Shadow could see the exhaustion on Sonic's face. He was pushing himself beyond his weakened limits.

Sonic was not aware of just how tired he really was. With his runner's high waning, he felt himself getting heavier. Everything hit him in that moment as he suddenly felt dizzy.

Noticing Sonic's weakening posture, Shadow immediately helped him sit on the couch, besides his sprawled out counterpart. "You need to rest."

"Listen, you just sit here and I'll get you something to eat." Not wanting to hear anything from Sonic at the moment, Shadow turned his back and left the lounge.

Still lying on the couch, Scourge watched as Sonic curled into himself, lying down opposite him. The blue hedgehog looked unusually pale, as if he were about to vomit.

Sonic closed his eyes, trying to make the spinning sensation he was feeling stop.

"Want me to read you a bedtime story, Blue?"

With a swift kick from Sonic, Scourge found himself face-first on the floor.

* * *

Scourge dusted off his jacket as he left the lounge. He knew when he wasn't wanted. That and he didn't want to have to deal with the vomit if Sonic really did throw up.

It was pitiful how Shadow was trying so hard to take care of Sonic. He could hear him in the nearby kitchen, hastily throwing something together.

Still bored after a whole day of doing nothing, Scourge entered the kitchen.

"You know you're wasting your time, Stripes," he said as he watched Shadow sloppily finish making a sandwich.

"I'm not going to sit there and watch him starve himself." Shadow picked up the plate and turned around, passing Scourge, about to leave.

"Don't you think you're taking this 'big brother' thing too seriously?"

Shadow stopped in his tracks. He turned to Scourge, meeting the green hedgehog's taunting gaze. "What did you say?"

"I said, don't you think you're taking this 'big brother' thing too seriously?"

Shadow glared at the green hedgehog silently, not wanting to give anything away. For all he knew, Scourge was bluffing and happened to just be joking. He set the sandwich down on the counter beside him.

"You think I don't know?" Scourge asked with his usual arrogant smirk. "You should really consider locking that desk of yours. Who knows what could get into there!"

In one swift move, Shadow appeared in front of Scourge. He swung his arm forward, punching the green hedgehog into the steel wall of the kitchen.

Scourge landed with a loud thud, falling to the floor after impact. He grabbed his abdomen in pain, rubbing the spot where a bruise was sure to form. "What the heck, Stripes?!"

Shadow stormed over to Scourge. Without any regard for his state, Shadow grabbed the green hedgehog by his jacket lapels, pulling him up to meet eye-to-eye.

"Listen here," he growled. "I don't care that you know, but I don't want to see you anywhere near Sonic. Do you hear me?"

"Why?" Scourge wasn't even trying to hide the smug look on his face. He was getting the reaction he wanted out of Shadow. It was always fun to watch him get worked up as it so rarely happened. "Haven't you told him yet? I figured that was the reason he hated you so much."

"He's just grouchy because of the painkillers. Also, not a word about it is to come out of your mouth. Understand?" Shadow shook Scourge again for good measure.

Scourge had never intended to blab.

"Don't worry," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "My lips are sealed." And for once in his life, he was serious.

If looks could kill, Shadow was sure he'd be holding Scourge's lifeless body in his hands. "I'm serious about this, Scourge!"

"Want me to pinky swear?" Scourge shoved his hand in Shadow's face.

Shadow let go of the jacket, dropping Scourge. Ignoring the heap of green hedgehog, he picked up the sandwich he made and left the kitchen.


	7. Chapter 7- Concussion

**Again, this story is heavily inspired by user Queen Reverie's story, Ultimate Life Forms, so credit to them for inspiration.**

**Please**** read and review! I hope you enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER**: I do NOT own _Sonic the Hedgehog_!

* * *

"Well done, boys!" Eggman's malicious smile graced his face as he collected the various supplies the two hedgehogs had collected/stolen for him, scattering them across his workshop table.

Shadow looked around the workshop, which doubled as the heart of the ARK. Eggman had practically spent all his time up here from what he could gather, building something. What exactly was the megalomaniac building though? He took comfort in the fact that the Eclipse Cannon had all but blown up the last time he tried to use it, so the planet below seemed safe.

"So..." Scourge began, breaking the silence. "Are we good?"

"What?" Eggman turned his attention away from his new supplies back to the two boar hedgehogs. "Oh, right. You're free to go."

Not wanting to stick around for Eggman to change his mind and assign him to another mission, Scourge scurried out of the workshop.

Shadow on the other hand, chose to stay a little longer, observing the doctor at work. Not much for robotics himself, he couldn't tell by sight alone what all the parts were or even what they were for.

"Doctor," he might as well; he had nothing to lose. "why do you need these? What are you building?"

"I'm just recreating a little device I had back in Robotropolis. I think it's going well."

Shadow frowned. Eggman was giving him a run-around, answering his question without giving him any real information. He would have to figure this out later on his own, maybe find some blueprints Eggman left lying around. Then again, with an IQ of over 300, he probably had them all in his mind. Why leave an unnecessary paper trail?

"Actually," Eggman interrupted Shadow's thoughts. "I have a mission for you, Shadow. Just you. I don't trust Scourge with this one; it requires a certain level of stealth."

"So I can finally throw him into orbit?" Shadow tacked on. It's not like he couldn't perform any task Eggman assigned to him solo. Why keep the extra baggage?

"Errr, no. I still need him, just not now. Besides, there's a journal page in it for you." Shadow's ears perked up at this. Now he really had Shadow's attention. "It's simple. Just get me another Chaos Emerald. You're going to have to look for it this time, though. I have no idea where it is."

Yes, Shadow knew how easily the Chaos Emeralds tended to get lost or scattered. At least he had some incentive to search for it now. He knew Tails had one. He'd try to convince the kit to let him have it. It's not like he had much to do up on the ARK anyways. He could always spend some time with Sonic, but that would have to come later. He would just check up on him for the meantime.

Heading out, Shadow made his way to the door, only to be stopped by Eggman's comment.

"You'll find Sonic in one of the empty rooms. I believe he finally wore himself out to sleep."

Shadow could hear the teasing undertone in Eggman's words, jabbing at the fact he knew exactly where the black hedgehog would be going.

With nothing more than a glare directed at the doctor, who was not even looking his way, Shadow left the workshop in search of his brother.

* * *

Shadow opened yet another dormitory in his search for Sonic, which had been taking much longer than originally expected. It didn't help that the ARK had enough rooms for a staff of over one hundred scientists.

Finally finding him, Shadow stepped into the room quietly. Sonic lay sprawled out on the single bed on his stomach, sleeping the sleep of the dead.

Shadow approached the blue hedgehog silently, taking care not to wake him. He was happy to finally see Sonic getting some rest. All that running he had been doing had probably slowed down the healing process significantly.

Just as he was about to leave, convinced Sonic was okay and breathing, Shadow stopped. He hadn't noticed it in the dark of the room, but now that it held his attention, he could clearly see it.

There were bruises all over the front of Sonic's face and forehead.

Shocked, Shadow wondered what had happened. Did Sonic get into a fight with Scourge? Did he lose consciousness somewhere? If he did, how did he end up in one of the dormitories? Did Scourge dump him here?

Not wanting to wake Sonic, Shadow left the dorm, heading straight for the computer room.

Once there, he wasted no time accessing the ARK's security footage from earlier in the day. Following Sonic from the start of his day, Shadow fast-forwarded through the tape.

There was nothing out of the ordinary, just Sonic running around for hours on end, then stopping for a bit after Scourge crashed into him. There was no scuffle, with Sonic simply getting up and continuing his sprint, leaving Scourge in the dust. The collision may have been at high-speed, but it wouldn't explain all the bruises on his brother.

He continued to forward the tape until he finally found the cause of Sonic's injuries.

He couldn't resist; the urge was too strong. Shadow slammed his palm directly into his face.

Sonic was repeatedly spin-dashing directly into one of the steel doors, trying to break it down. Regardless of how hard he crashed, or the fact that he was clearly in pain from it as could be seen by him continuously rubbing his head and wiping away the small trickles of blood, he simply kept on going.

Shadow watched the footage until Sonic gave up. The blue hedgehog wobbled around a bit, crashing into a wall as he attempted to make his way down the hall. It was then he entered the dorm, the same one he was currently in, to sleep.

Shadow immediately jumped up from his seat, skating as fast as he could to Sonic's room. If that idiot has been slamming his head into a steel door long enough to make himself dizzy, he had most likely given himself a concussion. Not only that, he had gone directly to sleep after sustaining a head injury, putting him at risk for falling into a coma.

No longer caring about how much noise he was making, Shadow skated right into the room.

"Sonic, wake up!" he shouted as he grabbed the sleeping hedgehog, shaking him awake rather roughly.

Sonic awoke with a shout, immediately jumping up into a defensive position. He brought his hand up in front of his body, ready to strike. When he saw only Shadow standing before him, he lowered his guard. "Shadow? What's going on?"

"Are you okay?"

Sonic raised a brow in confusion. "What?"

"I asked, are you okay? How do you feel? Are you dizzy? Can you see straight? How is your vision?" Shadow listed all the symptoms of a concussion he knew off the top of his head.

"My vision is... fine?" Sonic answered, not entirely sure what Shadow was babbling on about. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Because you're a stupid idiot!" Shadow moved his hand forward sharply, jabbing Sonic directly in the forehead, hitting a bruise. "Explain this!"

Sonic winced, rubbing the ache that was left on his head after the jab. "I crashed into a door that wouldn't open."

"So your solution was to just keep on slamming head-first into it?!" Shadow said, bewildered, wondering how Sonic's thought process worked exactly.

"Well, unless you're going to hand me a Chaos Emerald, I'd like to hear what your great idea is to get the door open."

Shadow huffed, grabbing Sonic's arm and dragging him out of the room. "Come on!"

"Where are we going?" Sonic asked, allowing Shadow to drag him out of the dorm and into the hallway.

"The Doctor needs to have a look at you. Your 'great idea' has probably left you with some serious head trauma." Shadow stopped as he felt Sonic tug away from his grip.

"No way!" Sonic took a step away from Shadow. "You think I'm going to see that psycho after he cut me open like that?"

"You had gallstones, Sonic. You needed that procedure," Shadow lied through his teeth. He was well aware it was a completely unnecessary procedure, but right now, he needed to get Sonic some medical attention. "You saw the stones yourself."

"I didn't ask him to take 'em out! I'm not going!"

Shadow growled in frustration. "Just stop being stubborn!" He moved forward to grab Sonic's arm once more only to have the cobalt hedgehog move farther away from him.

In the blink of an eye, Sonic had taken down the halls of the ARK once more, running as far away from the ebony hedgehog as he could get.

"Sonic!" Shadow took off after him.

* * *

"Just follow the light." Eggman moved the otoscope in his hands in several different places as he observed Sonic's reaction rate.

Frowning, Sonic moved his eyes along with the light. He had been in the medical bay with Eggman and Shadow for the past hour, performing various tasks and undergoing examinations to prove he didn't have any brain damage or any serious head injuries from his little stunt earlier. According to Baldy McNosehair, he was doing a 'full neurological test' which basically meant he was checking his vision, hearing, balance, and for any unusual swelling.

"Are we done yet?" He grew impatient as the tests never seemed to end.

Shadow had caught up to him and defeated him quite easily considering he was still groggy from his nap and running on empty. The black hedgehog had literally dragged him by his arms into the medical bay as he fought, kicking and screaming, trying to claw his way free.

"Everything seems to be in working order." Eggman turned the otoscope off and set it down, making some notes on a notepad.

"So I'm not going to die?" Sonic smirked.

"Die?" Eggman stopped writing. "Who told you that?"

Sonic looked to Shadow, making eye contact with the smirk still on his face.

"That is _not_ what I said and you know that!" Shadow had to resist the urge to strike the blue hedgehog on his already bruised head.

"I'm more concerned with this." Eggman pointed to the bruising on Sonic's abdomen. He had released Sonic three days ago with only minimal bruising from the stitches. The fact that they were darker and larger meant Sonic was completely disregarding his own health. "I told you to rest, Sonic! You are still recovering from surgery!"

"Sure. Just send me back home for some fresh air, and I'll take it easy for a week or two."

"I'd be delighted to just as soon as you agree to join the Eggman Empire."

Sonic sighed. Oh, well. At least he tried.

"Until then," Eggman continued. "you can either stop this nonsense, or so help me, I will tie you down to this bed until you are fully healed."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "No need to get your moustache in a bunch."

"I'm going back to my workshop, but I'm serious, Sonic!" Eggman stood up and removed the gloves from his hands, throwing them into the nearby waste basket.

"I'm touched. I didn't know you cared!" Sonic called after the evil doctor as he left. As soon as he was out of sight, Sonic turned his attention back to Shadow. "Are you happy now?"

Yes, he was happy to hear Sonic was in good health. "Sonic." Shadow rubbed his forehead as several things raced through his head. "Just please eat something."

* * *

Whistling to himself, Scourge stood in front of the stove in the ARK's kitchen. He had a rather large pot on the stove and several open cans of food next to him.

The doors to the kitchen slid open as Sonic entered for the first time.

Just like everything else on the ARK, minus some furniture, everything was made of solid steel. The kitchen was massive, clearly made to prepare foods for a number of people well into the hundreds. A series of stoves lined the walls of the kitchen as industrial-sized pots and pans hung on hooks overhead. Below the stoves, were rows and rows of drawers. A few ovens and industrial refrigerators and freezers lined the other side of the wall, with a few small tables scattered across the room for any scientists who wanted to eat in-between meals.

"'Sup, Blue," Scourge greeted him with a quick glance. He proceeded to grab the open cans beside his pot and begin dumping them in unceremoniously.

Sonic had to say he was genuinely surprised. Had Scourge been the one cooking all the food brought to him?

"What's on the menu?" He approached the green hedgehog.

"Do I look like a chef to you?" he responded sarcastically, answering Sonic's internal question at the same time. "I'm just throwing random stuff in here, hoping it turns out well."

Sonic leaned over the pot to have a look. Sure enough, it was an invertible mess of canned vegetables and beans.

"Are you... trying to make chili?" he asked, knowing Scourge shared his favorite food.

"I already told you, I don't know what I'm making." He grabbed the seasonings scattered around the stove and dumped liberal amounts into the pot.

"Looks... great." Sonic felt physically ill looking at the pot. Scourge had not even bothered to drain any of the vegetables, and he was pretty sure green beans, sweet potatoes, and hot sauce shouldn't be in the same pot together. Not wanting to vomit directly into Scourge's concoction, Sonic stepped away, choosing to explore the kitchen some more.

Reaching one of the freezers, he opened the massive steel doors. Inside was enough food to last the end of time. Well, maybe a year or so. The contents were mostly pre-packaged meals, frozen vegetables, and miscellaneous desserts.

Pulling open the fridge directly next to it revealed even more food, mostly perishable items such as fruits, breads, cheeses, and milk.

Finding the walk-in pantry, Sonic pulled it open and stepped in to find the stash of canned foods Scourge must have raided to make his... whatever it was he was making.

"All this food and you tried to cook?!" Sonic shouted from inside the pantry. "What's wrong with a frozen pizza?!"

"You can only eat so many before the sight of them makes you want to vomit!" the green hedgehog shouted back, still stirring the pot.

"Like your cooking," Sonic snickered under his breath.

"I heard that!"

"Okay." Sonic allowed his snickers to become full-blown laughter.


	8. Chapter 8- Chaos Emeralds

**Once again, this story is heavily inspired by user Queen Reverie's story, Ultimate Life Forms, so credit to them for inspiration.**

**Please**** read and review! I hope you enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER**: I do NOT own _Sonic the Hedgehog_!

* * *

Tails was working in his lab when he heard the garage/workshop door open. He was surprised and angry to see a familiar ebony hedgehog step inside.

"Shadow!"

"I'm not here to fight you, Tails," Shadow informed gently. "I told you before that I'd come to check on you whenever I could."

Tails relaxed slightly, but kept his guard up. "Where's Sonic?" he asked.

"He's fine. I'm sorry, but that's all I can tell you," Shadow said, keeping his voice soft.

The two roommates talked with each other for a while and Shadow made sure Tails had everything he needed for the next few days. Soon, Shadow brought up the other thing he came down for. After a brief argument, Tails complied after Shadow mentioned that Sonic would be upset if he had to fight him for it. Shadow explained that he plans on breaking Sonic out as soon as he can and he won't let Eggman get away with whatever he's plotting.

"Chaos Control!"

* * *

Rouge flapped her wings as she prepared to land on the ice. What had started as a trip to Mystic Ruins to visit Knuckles had quickly turned into a treasure hunt once she had sensed a Chaos Emerald nearby. Following the Chaos Energy, she found herself traveling up the mountain on the island into the Icecap Zone.

After dropping to the ground, Rouge insured she had a good footing on the ice. Carefully treading on the frozen ground, she walked towards the end of the cavern, now sensing, not one, not two, but _three_ Chaos Emeralds! Today was going to be her lucky day!

Reaching the clearing of the cavern, she stumbled upon not only the lake, but a pleasant surprise.

"Tall, dark, and handsome." Rouge smiled at her old friend, who stood at the edge of lake, staring down into it. "Is that you?"

"Hello, Rouge." Shadow turned his attention to the bat, greeting her in return.

"Is this where you've been all this time?" Rouge calmly walked over to the dark hedgehog. As she reached his side, she too looked down into the lake, wondering what Shadow had been staring at. She caught sight of the Chaos Emerald she had sensed earlier, lodged at the bottom of the pool. Shadow must have had the other two Chaos Emeralds and used one to teleport into the cavern.

"I hope you're not eyeing my precious dear down there," she said in her flirtatious tone.

"I'm afraid I am, Rouge."

Rouge had to laugh. She knew she was no match for Shadow, making a fight between them pointless, but competing with him for the Emeralds was not something she normally had to do. "Every time you need the Chaos Emeralds, it means bad news. Why don't you fill me in on what's going on? What's happened to Sonic?"

Shadow's brow furrowed at the mention of his brother. What conclusion had they reached on Mobius? Had they somehow figured out he was on the ARK? "What did you hear?"

"Tails said that you told him that you and Sonic would be gone for a while."

"But," Rouge continued. "you didn't tell him where you were going or when you'd be back, didn't you?"

There was no hiding it. Rouge simply knew him too well. "Sonic's fine. That's all I can tell you." He wasn't too concerned with Rouge knowing the truth. She had more of a level head than the others and wouldn't immediately jump to conclusions or rush off to try and find a way to save Sonic.

"I'm happy to hear that and all, but what exactly am I supposed to tell the others? They're going to want to know how I came across this information."

"I already told Tails when I got his Chaos Emerald from him, but don't tell the others. Just play along with their little search." Taking a breath, he dived into the frigid waters of Icecap Lake. Not affected by the depth but affected the the temperature, Shadow shivered then grabbed the Chaos Emerald at the bottom before swimming up to the surface.

Rouge held her arm out to Shadow, helping him out of the lake. "And now you've gone and given yourself hypothermia."

"I'll be fine."

Rouge cried out as Shadow shook the icy water out of his fur, splashing her. Shadow snickered at her response, still shivering a little. A beeping from Shadow's wrist drew both of their attention away.

"Let me take this." Shadow motioned to Rouge that he would need a minute. He pushed a button on the wrist communicator. "Yes, Doctor?"

"Shadow, have you secured the Chaos Emerald yet?" Eggman asked over the communicator.

Seeing the perfect opportunity, Rouge suddenly grabbed Shadow's wrist and moved it to her face, getting a clear view of Eggman from the small screen.

"Oh, Eggman. What do you think you're doing?" Rouge motioned for Shadow to hand her the Chaos Emerald in his other hand. Grabbing it, she brought it in view of the screen. "Hiding these precious babies from me?"

"Ah, Rouge." Eggman sounded genuinely surprised. "Always a pleasure to see you."

"The pleasure's all mine." She smirked as she continued.

"Now, what are you keeping from me?" she mentioned once more, refusing to allow Eggman to change the subject.

"That depends. Where do your loyalties lie?"

"With the highest bidder. You know that." Rouge had worked for Eggman several times before. She knew he had the drill down by now.

"Then I think I might have a place for you."

"I'm listening." Rouge feigned interest.

"Shadow!" Eggman shouted. "Bring Rouge back with you. I think we may be able to reach an agreement."

The wrist communicator turned off as the transmission ended.

"Rouge!" Shadow immediately began. "What are you getting yourself into?"

"I can ask you the same question," she scoffed in return.

Shadow frowned in silence, knowing she was right.

"Shadow," Rouge called his name in a much softer tone. "Considering what has happened in the past, I know you would never work for that insane man unless you had to. What does he have that you need?"

"Information... about my past... and about Sonic," he said slowly, not sure how to tell Rouge.

"Sonic?"

"It's... a bit of a long story."

Rouge sighed, seeing how obviously uncomfortable Shadow was with the topic. "I'm sure we'll have more than enough time to cover whatever it is later, but..." Rouge was really bothered by one thing. "Why didn't you come to me first? I could have pulled up anything you wanted from the G.U.N. archives."

"You won't find this in the archives. Even then, nothing from there is trustworthy. How many fake G.U.N. reports did you and I go through last time we needed information about my past?"

Rouge couldn't deny that. "Fair enough. Whatever it is you need, we'll get it, save Sonic, and get the heck out of there, just like we always do."

"Thank you." Shadow gave Rouge a small smile. "I really appreciate this."

"Just don't get all sappy on me," she taunted back. "So where are we going anyways?"

* * *

"Wow." Rouge gazed at the breathtaking view in front of her. "Never thought I'd be back up here again." It wasn't that often she had the opportunity to orbit a planet. She could never be bored of the sight.

"The Doctor is probably in his workshop. It's right down-"

"I know where everything is Shadow," she cut him off. "You and I spent quite a while up here together, if I recall." She finished with a wink.

Shadow rolled his eyes, but chose to follow as Rouge led the way to the workshop.

* * *

Shadow walked through the ARK as he waited for Rouge and Eggman to finish their discussion, searching for Sonic yet again.

With most of the ARK blocked off to the blue hedgehog, Shadow found him within minutes in the lounge. The blue hedgehog was sprawled out on the couch, watching the _Shadow Saga_ of _Sonic X_ on the television.

"Are you watching _Sonic X_?" Shadow asked with a smirk.

"Uhh... no..." Sonic lied. Shadow rolled his eyes playfully and sat down next to him to watch with him.

* * *

"After putting on a show of negotiating a salary, I'm still only getting half of what G.U.N. normally pays me, and that's if we don't put a value on the immunity I get from all my jewel heists," Rouge lamented as the two of them walked down the halls of the ARK.

"It must be very tragic for you," Shadow mock-lamented back to her.

"I'll live, but it's you I'm worried about." Rouge dropped all traces of playfulness in her tone.

"And it's Sonic I'm worried about." Shadow's tone was equally serious.

"Where is he?"

"In the lounge."

"Let me go have a look at him." Rouge began fiddling with the wrist communicator Eggman had given her, the very same on she had used with Shadow earlier. "There's a camera on this thing, right?" Her question was answered when she accidentally snapped a picture of the floor in front of her. "Found it."

When they entered the lounge, Sonic was still where he had been twenty minutes earlier (still watching _Sonic X_), only this time, he didn't turn around to see who had entered, assuming it was Shadow again.

Taking advantage of the moment, Rouge slid herself onto the couch and snapped a picture as soon as Sonic looked her way.

"Hey there, Big Blue."

"Rouge?" Sonic sat himself up on the couch and paused the episode, surprised to see another friend on the ARK. "What are you doing here?"

"You know me." She shrugged. "Where Shadow goes, I go."

"Yeah. Me too, apparently."

"Well, I'll leave you be. I just came by to say hello, but you'll be seeing more of me around here. Promise."

"Great. Looking forward to it." Though he said it with a smile, there was only a small trace of his usual bright and cheerful personality.

"Hang in there, tough guy." With that, she stood up and grabbed Shadow's arm, dragging him out of the lounge with her.

As soon as they were out of ear-shot of the lounge, Rouge let go of Shadow.

"What did you do?" she asked harshly. "It takes a lot to tick off Sonic, but he looks absolutely dead! I figured you were six feet under, but I didn't think you were in this deep! What did you do?"

"I haven't done anything. He's just stir-crazy," Shadow said softly. He might as well fill her in now; it's not like he could put it off to a later point. Shadow drew out his treasured journal pages and handed them to Rouge. "Here. These will explain everything better than I can."

After Rouge had read through the pages, Shadow explained to her about Sonic's past and bloodline (he had asked Sonic for permission to tell her when they were watching _Sonic X_.) To say Rouge was, unsurprisingly, shocked to learn that Sonic is a prince and Shadow has royal blood was an understatement.

* * *

"First mission and he's having me infiltrate G.U.N. Typical Eggman. Leave it to him to run me on some trust exercise." Rouge casually strolled down the maximum-security facility, greeting her co-workers as they walked by.

"Can you really blame him?" Shadow asked as he walked alongside her. "The first time he hired you, you turned your back against him for this very organization. How can he be sure you won't do it again?"

"How can I be sure this thing won't electrocute me to death?" Rouge held up her wrist communicator.

Shadow was pretty sure it was more than capable of doing that, but he chose to keep his mouth shut on the matter. "You've got it easy. When I get sent on missions, I actually have to work."

"That's your own fault." Rouge put a hand on her hip. "You're the one who stopped working for G.U.N. Why'd you do that, anyway?"

"I wanted to focus on getting used to living with Sonic and Tails. Besides, I just don't feel like working for them anymore."

"You know it's different, Shadow. It's not the same evil group that it was 53 years ago."

"That may be true, but it doesn't change my answer."

Rouge wanted to continue to argue it over, but they had reached their destination. It would just have to wait for later. Typing in the security code to enter the G.U.N. labs, Rouge motioned for Shadow to enter.

Inside, they found Topaz already waiting for them with a G.U.N. engineer and their desired item.

"Rouge, Shadow," Topaz greeted. "Here we are, ready to go!" She patted an impressive-looking engine beside her and the engineer.

"This is what we came for?" Rouge asked as she walked around the contraption, observing its structure. "What's so great about this? Why does G.U.N. even have this; I've never seen this before."

"It's an engine," the engineer spoke up.

"I can see that." Rouge had torn her way through enough robots and hotwired enough vehicles to know what an engine looked like. "I want to know what makes this engine so special Eggman had to send us to steal it."

"It runs on a combination of Chaos Energy and solar energy," Shadow spoke up before the engineer or Topaz could. "Prof. Gerald Robotnik created it as a means of powering the ARK, and it's what currently keeps the life support system up there intact."

"Correct," the engineer continued after Shadow. "We were able to build this model from blueprints of Gerald's original work we had on file. It's the same kind of engine that runs in many of G.U.N.'s top war ships and air ships."

"So if there's already one up there, why does he need another one?" Topaz asked the two anthropomorphic creatures.

"As far as I'm aware, the engine aboard the ARK is fully functional; it wasn't damaged when the ARK was hurtling towards earth. Perhaps the Doctor simply needs to generate more energy, or the single engine we have is not capable of processing all the energy from the Chaos Emeralds without the Eclipse Cannon."

"Including the one you have on you, Eggman has five of the Chaos Emeralds at the moment. If that were the case, wouldn't the system have overloaded already? Five emeralds is a lot of energy," Rouge asked Shadow.

"For all we know, he's just doing it to knock G.U.N. down a peg. These are not cheap. It takes time and lots of precious metals to make these. Not to mention the warship we would have had to destroy should we have really been stealing this."

"We can sit here and wonder all we want," Rouge reasoned. "We'll never know what goes on inside that man's head. The most we can do is try to stay one step ahead of him."

"Right," Topaz drew a small, black remote from the inside of her bullet-proof vest. "Which is why you two need to hang on to this." She handed the device to Rouge.

"What's this for?" the white bat asked, examining the device in her hands.

"Why this, right here!" the engineer knocked on the engine. "One push of that little button," he pointed to the remote. "and BOOM! No more ARK!"

"It's for a worst-case scenario, of course!" Topaz jumped in, noticing the engineer getting a little too excited about the concept of a massive space-explosion.

"Yes, of course." The engineer regained his composure. "Should the Doctor need to be stopped at a moment's notice, this engine will do the trick. Rather than taking the Chaos Energy and converting it into a usable power source, it will channel it directly into the ARK, overloading the system until-"

"Yes. Explosion. We get it," Shadow cut him off before he could work himself up again.

"Hopefully, it will never reach that point," Rouge tacked on.

"We have everything we need, right?" Shadow asked Rouge. They had already spent a good amount of time on Mobius, mostly in Club Rouge so Rouge could check up on the place and balance the casino's finances. Any longer and Eggman might actually start to get suspicious.

"Yeah, we're good to go, Mr. Impatient."

"If you two need anything else, just let us know," Topaz bid them farewell.

Shadow took Rouge's hand, preparing to teleport them out of the G.U.N. facility.

"Ready?" he asked.

"I don't know, darling." Rouge used her usual teasing-flirtatious tone, taking ahold of the engine. "We've just barely met; this relationship is moving too fast for me. We're going to have to talk."

"Chaos Control!" With a flash of blinding light, the two of them were on the ARK observation deck once more.

* * *

"Great." Rouge pointed to the engine on the floor of the deck. "Now we're going to have to lug this thing all the way back to the workshop ourselves. You couldn't just teleport us directly there?"

"Well if you really want to make this easier," Shadow said with a smirk. "I could always get Scourge to come down here and help us."

"I'm tempted to take you up on that offer only because I know you'll loathe every minute of it." Rouge grabbed one side of the engine while Shadow stood across from her and grabbed the other side. "But in all seriousness, we really do need to talk."

Together, they heaved, lifting the rather heavy piece of machinery up off the deck and carrying it into the hallway.

"Talk about what?" Shadow asked as he watched behind him, insuring he didn't bump into any walls or super-speed hedgehogs.

"About you and Sonic." Rouge had read through all the journal pages Shadow had and had been walked through the whole situation by the black hedgehog, but now it brought up other matters. "When are you guys going to tell the others?"

"Why don't you ask Sonic? It's his decision, not mine. You don't understand how stubborn he can be."

"Oh, I think I do." Rouge had spent years working with and against Sonic on Mobius. She had seen him stand up and fight while he was on the brink of death. She had seen him go to great and unreasonable lengths just keep a simple promise.

"Why are you so concerned with our relationship anyway?" Rouge had promised to help him, but Shadow didn't think she was going to try to family-council him.

"I care about you, Shadow. You know that."

"I also know you like watching me crash and burn."

"True, but I also really do care. Not just about you, but about Sonic too. He's miserable, depressed, he's starving himself without even realizing it, and he's going to end up getting himself killed trying to escape."

"I know." Shadow didn't need to be reminded about his brother's present condition. "You think I don't see that? Sometimes I just want to tie him down in the medical bay and force some food down his throat, but..."

"You feel guilty. You're the whole reason he's stuck up here," Rouge finished his sentence for him.

"More so about the fact that he's _still_ stuck up here." Shadow hated seeing Sonic trapped like some house pet. "I want to just get him out of here and back to Mobius with all his friends, but... I really need those journal pages." He chose not to add the part where he knew he was being a selfish jerk for keeping Sonic cooped up for his own personal gain. "But I really need to know about my past, our past, and what really happened. I need those journal pages."

"How much longer will it take to get them all?" Rouge asked as they finally arrived at the workshop.

"It shouldn't be much longer now. Who knows how much longer Sonic can last up here?"

They set the engine down on the workshop table.

Rouge flexed her arms a bit, trying to get the blood flowing back into them after carrying a heavy object for so long. "He's just going to have to hang in there." She noticed that Shadow seemed pretty worn out from that; _much_ more than he should have been. He also looked a little pale and his eyes were a bit dull and glassy.

"Is it just me, or is your condition getting worse?" she asked.

"I'm fine, Rouge," Shadow growled. But he wasn't fine...


	9. Chapter 9- Shadow's Fangs

**PLEASE REVIEW! I HAVEN'T GOTTEN A GOOD REVIEW IN SO LONG! I hope you enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER**: I do NOT own _Sonic the Hedgehog_!

* * *

**(One Week Later)**

"Shadow?" Sonic called as he roamed the ARK, looking for his brother. He made his way to the library, where Rouge was. "Rouge, have you seen Shadow?"

Rouge looked up from the book she was reading to the cobalt hedgehog.

"No, I haven't," she replied. She noticed the distressed look on Sonic's face in response to her reply. "What's wrong?"

"That means he hasn't woken up yet! It's almost noon! He _never_ fails to be up by now!" Sonic cried, clearly concerned.

Rouge didn't understand why he was getting his quills all ruffled.

"I'm sure he's fine. He just had a late night," she reassured. But Sonic wasn't convinced. He took off again, resuming his search for Shadow.

He navigated his way to the dorm that the two of them were sharing. Unlike most of the other dorms, this one had two beds instead of one. Sonic had wanted to be close to Shadow and Shadow had wanted to be able to keep a closer eye on Sonic. Sonic slept on the right bed while Shadow slept on the left one.

He perked his ears and sniffed the air to make sure he hadn't missed anything. The ARK was pretty much silent. He could smell Eggman, Scourge, Rouge, and his own scent, but not even a hint of Shadow's.

"Shadow?" Sonic called out again and received silence in return. The ebony hedgehog was a notoriously light sleeper. Something was definitely up.

"Shadow?" Sonic called once more as he reached the door to their shared dorm. A broken groan barely reached his ears. Sonic's breath caught in his throat.

"Shadow!" He moved close enough for the automatic door to open. His eyes snapped down to the prone figure splayed out on the floor. He gasped as he crouched down by his big brother's side. "Wha?! Shadow, what happened?!"

In retrospect, he knew better than to ask because the chance of an actual answer was slim. Shadow was hanging onto a thread of consciousness, eyes faded and glassy when they lethargically met Sonic's gaze. His extremely pale muzzle worked open, but no words left those lips.

At this point, after taking in Shadow's condition, all of Sonic's surprise dissipated. His concern was still through the roof, but he knew _exactly_ what was happening.

"Are you _serious_, Shadow?!" Sonic fought to keep the growl out of his voice, but it was hard because this could've been _avoided_. "I never wanted it to get this bad, but you're so stubborn, I swear."

Shadow didn't try to answer this time. His jaw was clenched. Sonic took a deep breath to calm his nerves. Shadow was going to be fine. No one had somehow attacked him; he wasn't dying, and everything was going to be okay.

"C'mere." His voice composed itself, calmer as he gently maneuvered a limp Shadow into his arms. Shadow wasn't light by any means, but Sonic easily carried him over to Shadow's rustled bed.

He sat on the blankets and maneuvered until his back was up against a wall, Shadow still secure in his hold. That was the one good thing to come out of this situation; Shadow was too weak to fight his help.

Sonic then maneuvered the clinical-vampirism-inflicted hedgehog until he was kneeling in front of him, his only support being Sonic's hands anchoring his shoulders. Shadow managed to keep his head upright, eyes muddled and breaths ragged. Despite how out of it he was, there was a hint of defiance, which had Sonic frowning.

"Why, Shads?" Sonic exhaled harshly at the condition of the strongest person he was lucky enough to know and be related to. Lithe yet powerful muscles that could combat the fiercest fighter could barely twitch by themselves, and the gaze that had caused even god-like beings to cower at his feet now wouldn't be able to make a skittish mouse scurry.

Sonic met that stare and gave him a meaningful squeeze; not too hard, but enough to get him to listen. "Why are you doin' this to yourself?"

Again, he was met with silence. Sonic kept his frustration at bay because Shadow didn't need that. He needed blood. A _person's _blood.

He didn't know why, but Shadow had always sought out wild animals to drink from, along with his usual diet of actual food.

When asked about it, Shadow never revealed the reason why, and Sonic let it go. It seemed like the alternate diet was working for him, until he and Sonic became best friends. It didn't start immediately, or at least, Sonic didn't notice right away. However, as time went on, he saw that Shadow became more winded, his reaction times gradually slowed, and he would go on more hunts. He would get better, but only temporarily.

Sonic figured that the diet wasn't working anymore. He had the idea to offer himself up, but Shadow wasn't having it. Sonic let it go, but brought it back up when the ebony hedgehog's condition was getting worse. Again, Shadow shot it down.

He continuously disregarded the obvious solution until today, because Sonic was going to fix this _right now_. Sonic weaved his fingers into Shadow's head quills, careful not to prick himself on them.

"I hate seeing you like this, big bro," Sonic whispered, but his words retained their strength.

"You're gonna drink from me," he said with conviction. Those weary, ruby irises narrowed, but he wasn't deterred. "Whether you want to or not."

He didn't wait for a response because he wasn't going to get one. Sonic carefully brought Shadow against his chest in one swift move, wrapping a solid arm around his lower back and pushing Shadow's muzzle in the crook of his neck.

He felt the dark hedgehog's breath stutter against his short, blue fur, and the sudden tremble of his weak frame wasn't lost on Sonic. It was obvious that Shadow was battling against every instinct he had not to bite, and Sonic would've been impressed at the self-control any other day.

"I can sit here all day, Shads." Sonic pressed Shadow closer to his body when the shivers strengthened. "But why don't you do yourself a favor and get a little bite, okay? I promise I won't taste bad."

Sonic's hopes rose when he felt Shadow open his mouth, but instead of sharp fangs, he received a breathy murmur. "Out...side..."

It didn't take a genius to put together the meaning. Sonic shook his head.

"No can do. Hunting ferals isn't enough for you anymore, and-" The rest of his words died in his throat when a sharp pain emitted from his shoulder. He hissed but refrained from instinctively pushing Shadow off, instead holding him tighter.

The back of Sonic's head thudded against the wall as he gritted his teeth because, yeah, the pain was _there_. But there was also the full-on shivers that traveled up and down his spine, the breathlessness as Shadow shifted against him, and the way his toes curled when those fangs dug in deeper.

This couldn't be normal. No way. Sonic had heard screams of absolute terror and _agony_ when someone was attacked by a vampire, not this. Nowhere close to this.

Shadow pressed harder into him, his recovering arms sliding up Sonic's furless arms and grasping his shoulders. Sonic panted as his older brother huffed against his skin, closing his eyes because he absolutely wasn't expecting this.

Sonic lowered his hand from Shadow's head since it wasn't needed anymore. Instead, relocated to his shoulder blades for comfort and support.

He swallowed hard when he felt blood trickle down from the wound, some escaping Shadow's mouth. Sonic took the deepest breaths he could as the clinical-vampirism-inflicted hedgehog continued to drink, and he let him until his head started to feel dizzy.

"Hey..." Sonic's voice was a bit raspy and guttural, so he cleared his throat. "I know that I taste pretty good, but are you back to a hundred percent yet?"

At first, he believed Shadow was too busy to hear him, or to care, but Sonic winced when the fangs disconnected. A sigh then rushed past his lips when a soft tongue slowly lapped at his shoulder, cleaning up the inevitable mess left behind.

When Shadow sat up after licking the blood off his lips, Sonic smiled at the crisp, ruby irises glaring at him. Shadow's skin had regained its normal color. Sharpened canines were bared, still a bit stained, and Sonic chuckled. "See? Not too bad, right?"

"You're a d*** _idiot_," Shadow snarled. Sonic blinked in confusion when his chest was roughly punched. "You have _no_ idea what you just-" He was speechless when Shadow not-so-gently pushed away from him, growling. "I'm leaving."

"Wha-?" Sonic tightened his hold on him, unsure about what he did, besides the obvious. "You can't!" Shadow began to resist; he shot him a mischievous grin. "It's my turn next."

The ebony hedgehog paused to process that, and Sonic pounced. He tucked his fingers into Shadow's side under his ribs, tickling him. Two hands planted against Sonic's shoulder and squeezed, but they didn't shove him away. Shadow tried to resist the instinctive urge to laugh at the sensation, but failed when Sonic moved one hand from his flank to his stomach.

Sonic smirked before tickling him all over; his sides, his stomach, his underarms, and his neck. Shadow continued to laugh uncontrollably as he was tickled mercilessly.

Satisfied there, Sonic pulled back and let his big brother catch his breath. He grinned at the glare that never let up, but Shadow wasn't making a move to leave anymore. Mission accomplished.

"Now…" Sonic tilted his head, the high from everything still lingering in his system. "Why was feeding from me a bad idea again?"

Shadow crossed his arms with a prominent frown, clearly not happy.

"Because I won't be able to feed off of anything else," he snapped.

Sonic had to be missing something here. "Okay? I don't care, if that's what you're worried about," he chuckled. "I mean-"

And then Shadow was in his face, hissing with his quills bristled. "I could _kill_ you."

Sonic just stared at him until all of it clicked. "_That's_ what you're worried about?" A placating smile grew. "C'mon, Shads! You know how hard it is to kill me!" The ebony hedgehog wasn't buying it. "I wouldn't just let you drain me, and you even stopped yourself! You have enough self-control to-"

"I _don't_," Shadow spat, glaring at the adjacent wall. "If you hadn't said anything, I wouldn't have stopped."

"I don't believe that for a sec-"

"I've done it before." Shadow met his gaze again, and Sonic was taken aback by the guilt that was replacing the anger. "You haven't been lost in it. You block out _everything_ while you feed. The struggling, the screams, the _begging_." He clenched his jaw. "You're lost until it's too late."

It was then that Sonic knew. Shadow hadn't limited his hunting to wild animals on a whim. He had killed someone, someone he regretted to this day. Sonic closed the distance again, nuzzling Shadow's cheek.

"But you heard me," he whispered when his brother leaned into him. He wasn't going to go into Shadow's past right now. That could wait another day. "I can handle it, Shads. Trust me. And plus, I wasn't exactly screaming, was I?"

"Hmph."

"It'll be okay, Shadow," Sonic reassured. "We'll get through this together, as a family. You can get control of yourself during feeding if we work together."

Shadow sighed, knowing Sonic was right.

"See you in a bit," he said, starting to leave.

"Where you going?" Sonic asked.

"Bathroom," Shadow stated simply as he skated off. Sonic gently placed his hand over where he had been bitten. The puncture was still bleeding a little, so he left to go bandage it up. The memory was still clear in his mind. Things would definitely be more interesting from here on out.


	10. Chapter 10- Tails and Friends vs Scourge

**Sorry for the short chapter, but better a short one than none. Please read and review! I hope you enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER**: I do NOT own _Sonic the Hedgehog_!

* * *

**(Last Week)**

Tails woke with the sunrise outside of his workshop in Mystic Ruins. He stretched himself out in his bedroom.

Rubbing his eyes, Tails opened them up to find an unmarked white envelope resting on top of his red blanket. Unsure of what it could be, Tails opened it up. Out fell a picture with a note.

_I can't tell you where I am, but I am with Sonic. As you've heard, he's okay. I'm working with Shadow to get him out. Do me a favor and let Knuckles know. Hang in there, little guy. -Rouge_

The fox kit picked up the fallen picture and examined it.

It was Sonic all right, but the hedgehog looked thinner, as if he had lost a good amount of weight. He also had a surprised expression on his face. Did Rouge take this picture by surprise?

Tails threw his covers off and rolled out of his bed. He took off in the X Tornado, heading for the Master Emerald Shrine after picking up Amy and Cream and Cheese.

* * *

"That's Rouge's handwriting, for sure," Knuckles confirmed as he finished reading the letter. He was all too familiar with it after reading all the thank you notes the jewel thief would leave for him after stealing the Master Emerald yet again.

"Do you recognize where this picture was taken?" Tails asked hopefully. It was the only lead they had at the moment

"I doubt it," Amy answered on behalf of the echidna. "The green couch is the only clue we have as to his location. There could be thousands of those in Station Square, assuming he's even in Station Square."

Tails knew it was true, but he still couldn't help but feel upset.

Seeing his frown, Knuckles gave the fox kit a playful punch. "Don't be like that. We know he's still alive and wherever he is, Rouge is with him. She may be annoying, but she gets results."

"All we can do for now is keep searching for Shadow. We'll find him," Amy said hopefully. "Eventually."

Tails decided to stay quiet about seeing Shadow.

* * *

**(Present)**

Tails and Amy were heading for Club Rouge after overhearing a call for help on the police radio frequency. It seemed a certain green hedgehog was causing a scene and destroying the casino property, along with threatening many of the patrons with physical violence.

As they arrived and entered the club, they could already hear the green hedgehog shouting at the various employees, all of whom were trying their best to calm him down while remaining calm themselves.

"Sir, we are going to have to ask you to leave," the club manager said for the hundredth time, attempting to get a hold of Scourge.

"Make me!" Scourge swung at the manager, missing by a mile. He was already well intoxicated at this point, having had several drinks and full cases on the house.

At first, the employees thought they could simply give Scourge a few drinks and send him on his way. With Rouge away on a mission, there was no one around who was strong enough to fight the green hedgehog. Rather than create a scene and scare away customers, they gave in to his demands. It seemed to be going well at first; Scourge sat quietly at the bar with his drink. The employees had clearly underestimated Scourge's alcohol capacity as he continued to ask for more and more, demanding to have from Rouge's most expensive and old champagnes. When they said no, Scourge lost it.

"I want a drink, dang it!" Scourge continued to shout and curse. Clumsily, he climbed over the bar and picked up the bartender. With a heave, he threw him over the counter at the manager.

The two humans landed in a pile on each other.

Scourge jumped back over the counter and grabbed one of the bar stools. He returned to behind the counter and used the stool to smash open the glass container, which contained the most expensive drinks. Grabbing at the bottles, he read the labels, smashing them or drinking them depending on if he liked what he saw.

Amy and Tails ran to assist the manager and bartender, helping them back up on their feet.

"Ms. Amy, Mr. Tails!" the manager greeted happily. "Please, you must help. Scourge is going to destroy this place and Ms. Rouge is not around to stop him!"

"Don't worry." Amy had dealt with Scourge several times before. Though dangerous, Scourge was easy to handle while inebriated. "We'll take care of this."

"I'm on top of the world!" Scourge shouted as he stood atop the bar. He suddenly fell to the ground as someone kicked him in the back.

"Come on, your highness," Amy mocked, as she grabbed Scourge by the ear, dragging him towards the back.

"We'll take the exit out the back," Tails explained to the manager. "So the rest of the casino doesn't have to see him."

"Thank you very much!" The manager almost bowed in gratitude. He was already going to have a tough time explaining to Rouge what had happened to her bar when she got back; he certainly didn't want to make the situation worse.

After trying to interrogate Scourge, Tails and Amy left him in the alley to regain soberness. Despite how intoxicated he was, Scourge refused to give any useful information about Sonic's whereabouts.


	11. Chapter 11- Bouvet Island

**PLEASE review! I hate not getting any feedback! By the way, I updated the "eyecatch cards" on Chapter 5, so check that out if you want. I hope you enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER**: I do NOT own _Sonic the Hedgehog_!

* * *

"Can I help you?" Rouge asked as she entered her room aboard the ARK. The door to her room had been left open, something she had herself had not done, meaning someone was inside without her permission. Much to her surprise, she found Shadow, not Scourge, rummaging through her clothing.

"Yes, actually." Shadow didn't even give Rouge a glance as he continued pulling clothing out of her drawers and throwing them behind him when they weren't the article he was searching for. "I'm looking for a couple of scarves."

"Just help yourself," she responded sarcastically. "It's not like I had everything folded nice and neat or that I prefer not having my clothing in a pile on the floor."

Ignoring her clear desire not to have her wardrobe all over the place, Shadow reached for the next drawer and placed his hand on the knob. Just as he was about to open it, Rouge swiftly grabbed onto his arm.

"Shadow, you know I have no secrets from you, but please, don't open _that_ drawer."

It didn't take a genius to figure out what kind of clothing Rouge had in there that she wouldn't want him to see. Giving up on the drawers, Shadow moved to the built-in closet of the dormitory and began searching through it.

Rouge gave a defeated sigh. She could either help him or watch as he made a mess of the rest of her clothing. Gently pushing Shadow out of the way, Rouge pulled out scarves of various colors and materials.

"Had a particular look in mind?" she teased.

"These will do." Shadow picked out a navy blue scarf and a burgundy scarf from the collection Rouge presented to him.

"Why do you need scarves anyways?" Rouge asked as he put away the other scarves and, after putting on the burgundy scarf, got to work folding her scattered garments.

"I'm taking Sonic on a trip."

"A trip?"

"Yes. It's going to be cold, so we'll need scarves, especially Sonic, since he doesn't have fur on his arms or chest." Shadow removed his wrist communicator, tossing it to Rouge. "I'm going to need you to cover for me."

"Where should I go?" If Shadow wanted her to trick Eggman with the tracking devices in the communicators, they would need a decent cover.

"Go to your club. It won't be surprising we're there and it'll give you a chance to check up on the place, make sure everything's running fine."

Well, she was long overdue for a check-in. "How long will you be gone?"

"It shouldn't be more than a few hours. Just spend some time in Station Square so the Doctor doesn't go looking for us up here and try to send us on another mission." Shadow bundled up the blue scarf.

"You're lucky I like you so much, you know that?"

* * *

Sonic lay on a couch in the library, skimming through a book. Not being one for slow leisure activities, such as reading, he found it hard to stay focused. Giving up on the boring tale, he simply let go of the book, allowing it to drop onto his face.

Oh, well. He was bored enough to sleep now; might as well.

Sonic suddenly felt himself being pulled upward as something wrapped around his neck. Quickly pulling the book off of his face, Sonic looked down to see a thick, blue scarf wrapped around his neck and Shadow's hand on his arm. Shadow himself was wearing an identical scarf, only his was burgundy.

"What's this?" he asked.

"We're going on a trip." Shadow watched as Sonic's eyes lit up with an excitement he hadn't seen since the last time the blue hedgehog was on the planet below. "And it's going to be cold."

"You mean we're leaving the ARK?"

"Yes. But we're coming back!" Shadow added on quickly, only to regret it. Though it was true, watching Sonic's face fall in disappointment struck a nerve inside of him.

"It'll be good to get some fresh air," he tried once more to cheer Sonic up. Not waiting to see if it worked, Shadow prepared to leave. "Chaos Control!"

* * *

Sonic hugged himself as he felt a blast of frozen air come over him. Opening his eyes, he saw himself standing on a land mass of ice and rock, surrounded by miles and miles of ocean. He felt himself shivering as the cold seemed to seep right through him, chilling him to the bone.

"Where... where are we?" he asked through his chattering teeth, glad Shadow had given him the scarf.

"This, Sonic, is Bouvet Island." As much as Sonic had enjoyed traveling, Shadow knew there was no way he had ever seen this island before. Aside from the fact it was the most remote place on the planet and surrounded entirely by water, the island was uninhabitable. Nothing grew here and only the arctic seals came to breed. With a location so remote and isolated, Shadow didn't have to worry about anyone seeing Sonic or about said hedgehog trying to escape.

"What are we doing here?" Sonic didn't see how a trip to a frozen wasteland could be of any use to Shadow or Eggman.

"Come on, Sonic." Shadow smirked. "Don't tell me all that time on the ARK has made you... _slow_?" Without another word, he sped off, leaving Sonic in the dust.

"Not even in your dreams, Shads!" Sonic took off directly after him, catching up quickly.

"Follow me." Shadow took the lead, having a better understanding of the island layout than Sonic did.

Together, the two hedgehogs ran to the highest point of the island, the top of the inactive volcano. They slid down to the mouth of the volcano, a bowl which had filled with ice after years of inactivity.

"How good are you when you can't run?" Shadow asked when they reached the pit of volcano. Pushing against the wall, he built up momentum to slide across the layer of ice. Reaching the other end of the pit, he pushed off once more, charging straight for Sonic.

"Let's see and find out!" Sonic pushed off against the walls as well, charting a collision course for the incoming black hedgehog.

Bracing for impact, Shadow pushed Sonic aside at the last moment, changing both of their directions. They went on like that for a while, a perfect dance of attack and defense, two high-speed hedgehogs sliding across the ice.

Sonic could feel the freezing air in his lungs, invigorating him and filling him with life once more. It felt great to breathe real air as opposed to the air generated by the life-support system aboard the ARK.

Shadow motioned to the rocky ledges of the volcanic wall. With a leap, the two hedgehogs were bounding over each other, pulling themselves up with the momentum of their arms.

With Shadow in the lead, he had already disappeared out of sight over the edge of the landform.

Grabbing onto the rocks, Sonic repeated the motion until he was at the top of the volcano. Once he reached the top, Sonic put his right foot forward. With his left food behind him, Sonic kicked off, sliding down the side of the volcano through the ice while leaning to the left and right to steer his direction.

As he built speed, getting closer and closer to Shadow, Sonic knew he would need a little extra kick to get ahead. Steering himself towards a nearby rock, he put his hand out in front him, grabbing onto it. In a swift motion, he had pulled himself up over it, launching himself in the air towards Shadow. As soon as the ebony hedgehog was within reach, Sonic grabbed onto his shoulders and somersaulted over him.

"Not bad, Sonic." Shadow couldn't hide how impressed he was with Sonic's quick thinking. It looked like not even months of confinement could slow down his reflexes and wit. "But we're not done yet!"

As they reached the bottom of the volcano, they took off, running along the rocky shore of the island. Making a sharp turn, they headed for the center of the island, towards the lagoon.

Though Sonic loathed water more than anything else, he still followed Shadow into the lagoon.

Chunks of ice floated in the lagoon, creating perfect platforms for the hedgehogs to jump on as they crossed it.

Seeing the perfect opportunity to really get Sonic moving, Shadow launched a Chaos Spear at the platform Sonic was on, causing the cobalt hedgehog to jump to another one before it was destroyed.

"Are you trying to drown me?!" Sonic shouted with wide eyes as he dodged another blast of Chaos Energy. Unbeknownst to Sonic, at its deepest, the water only reached two feet.

"Just think of it as training." Shadow continued to strike at the ice, fully intending to drop his younger brother in the water.

Once Sonic stood atop the last solid ice platform in the water, he felt a sweat break out over him, regardless of the fact he was surrounded by arctic air.

"Come on, Shads," he said half-jokingly, half-nervous. "I think that's enough training for one day."

On second thought, he better not. Freezing water, plus arctic temperatures, would surely land Sonic with a nasty case of hypothermia, one he would have trouble explaining to Eggman considering Sonic was supposed to be trapped in a controlled-temperature environment. Instead, Shadow launched a Chaos Spear at the water directly underneath the ice platform, launching it forwards towards land.

Sonic jumped off the platform before it crashed against the shore, shattering into several smaller chunks of ice.

"Aww, I knew you cared too much about me," he teased. Shadow playfully rolled his eyes before he took the lead once more, racing towards the massive glacier on the island.

* * *

Both hedgehogs lay on their backs on the rocky beach, trying to catch their breath. Over four hours of non-stop running had completely drained them of their energy, one thing Shadow was glad to have accomplished.

Though the island was small, only about nineteen square miles, it proved to be the best choice. Being composed of mostly cliffs and glaciers, it was a great workout. With Sonic completely worn out, Shadow was confident his brother would be in better spirits when they returned.

Speaking of which, Shadow turned over to see Sonic. His breath was forming into small puffs above him as he gasped for air, clearly exhausted. "Ready to go?" he asked. Shadow hated the idea of upsetting Sonic, but they couldn't stay any longer. Rouge had probably returned to the ARK by now.

"No." The blue speedster most certainly did not want to return to the ARK. "But it's not like I have a choice, do I?" He had entertained the thought of running away from Shadow when the time came to return, but where would he go? How long could he possibly stay here? Nothing grew on the island; he'd be sure to die of starvation, assuming the cold didn't get to him first.

"I'm afraid not." Shadow pulled himself up before standing. Reaching over to Sonic, who was still laying down on the rocks, he held his hand out. What happened next surprised him more than pretty much anything Sonic had done since arriving on the ARK.

As Sonic took Shadow's hand, he suddenly pulled the black hedgehog forward towards him and wrapped his arms firmly around him, nuzzling his cheek.

"Thank you, Shadow," he whispered before pulling away from the hug.

"Chaos Control."

* * *

**("Eyecatch" Card)**

Name: Rouge Jewel (the) Bat

Age: 21

Species: Bat

Height: 3' 5"

Weight: ?

Fur Color: White

Eye Color: Teal

Skin Color: Tan

Power: Enhanced Hearing, Flight, Night Vision, Spy Skills, Enhanced Speed, Enhanced Reflexes, Enhanced Strength, and Treasure Hunting

Title: Self-Proclaimed "World's Greatest Thief"

* * *

**("Eyecatch" Card)**

Name: Miles "Tails" Prower

Age: 12

Species: Fox

Height: 2' 11"

Weight: 60 lbs.

Fur Color: Orangish-Yellow and White

Eye Color: Sky Blue

Skin Color: ?

Power: Genius-level Intelligence, Flight, Engineering Skills, Enhanced Speed, and Enhanced Strength

Title: None

* * *

"Ow, ow, ow, come on! Not you too!" Scourge, now fully sober, tried to pull away from the white bat, but failed. "I said I'm sorry!"

"Sorry?! You think a simple 'sorry' is going to fix all the damage you've caused?!" Rouge pulled Scourge's ear once more, doing her best not to murder the green hedgehog on the spot.

Scourge honestly couldn't see why Rouge had her wings in a bunch. "How much money could it possible cost to replace a few cans of beer?"

"A few cans of beer?!" Rouge pulled on the green hedgehog's ear once more. Who knew, maybe with enough pulling she could rip it off and shove it down his arrogant little throat? "Those were bottles of champagne over one-hundred-years-old! Not to mention the antique liquor cabinet you shattered, which was over two-hundred-years-old, and all the other furniture you destroyed, threw up on, or urinated on! Do you know how much a single bottle of one-hundred-year-old champagne costs?"

"Uh... no."

Another sharp pull. "More than you'll ever have, that's for sure!"

That was the sight Sonic and Shadow walked into as they entered the observation deck. Rouge grabbing and pulling at Scourge, looking angrier than either hedgehog had ever seen her before in their lives.

"What's... going on?" Sonic asked, not entirely sure if he really wanted to know.

Shadow simply stared coolly, silently hoping Rouge would take care of the annoying, green pain-in-his-butt for good.

"This... asinine... little..." Rouge struggled to find the right words to describe just how enraged she was, though none seemed to fit the bill. "practically destroyed my club! The repairs are going to cost a full month's profit from Club Rouge!" Abandoning all inner restraint, Rouge threw Scourge in front of her. Throwing her leg forward, she landed a swift kick on his rear end, sending him crashing into the ARK's metallic walls.

"How many times am I going to have to apologize before you let this go?" Scourge asked, rubbing his aching ear with one hand. It didn't help that it had already been pretty bruised up from when Amy had dragged him out of the club.

"You think an apology is going to fix this?!" Rouge shouted. "If we were on Mobius, I would have skinned you alive and sold your flesh on the Black Market to make up for all the money I'm going to have to spend to fix this!"

"Harsh, Bats." Scourge had worked with Rouge before, but he had never seen this side of her before. "Who knew you could be so scary?"

Rouge pointed to the nearest door in the deck. "Just get out of my sight!"

"I see you've had an exciting day." Shadow smirked, giving Rouge a taste of her own sarcasm.

"Why don't you just ask him about it?" In one swift motion, Rouge pulled out a few concealed knives and threw them at Scourge.

Scourge ducked in time, watching as the projectiles hit the wall and fell to the ground.

"You're trying to kill me!" he shouted. "You're really trying to kill me!" Scourge got up from the floor and marched over to Sonic and Shadow. Grabbing Sonic's arm, he dragged the blue hedgehog along with him as he headed for the door. "Come on, Blue. Let's go play some video games until Bats gets off her period."

Looking back to Shadow and Rouge, Sonic waved goodbye sympathetically to Rouge as the metal doors slid shut behind him.

"Why, that little!" Rouge could have chased him into the hall and strangled him right then and there.

"Just relax." Shadow stepped in front of her, knowing what was on her mind. "He's unimportant."

Taking a deep breath, Rouge spoke to herself. "For the mission. Don't kill him for the mission." Opening her eyes, she quickly shifted topics, hoping to get her mind off all the hassle she was going to have to go through once she was back on Mobius.

"So," she began. "How did it go?"

"It went well." Shadow tossed the scarves he and Sonic had used earlier to Rouge. "Here's your scarves back. Thanks."

"No problem. But," Rouge tossed them back to Shadow. "you keep them. I assume you're going to want to take him out again."

* * *

**Again, please review!**


	12. Chapter 12- The Royal Hedgehogs

**Apparently, part of Chapter 8 didn't get uploaded, so I had to add that the other day. Check it out, if you haven't. By the way, the characters' middle names in the "eyecatch cards" are my own ideas, not official names.**

**Please read and review! I hope you enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER**: I do NOT own _Sonic the Hedgehog_ or _Sonic Underground_!

* * *

Eggman laughed in victory as he successfully infiltrated Prison Island once more.

"He did it! He's back on Prison Island!" Decoe, one of Eggman's old henchbots, cried.

"Dr. Eggman rules!" Bocoe, Decoe's counterpart, added.

"All right!" Cubot, Eggman's dim-witted henchbot, cheered.

"The boss' plan is certainly doing well this time," Orbot, Cubot's more intelligent and snarky counterpart, remarked. The henchbots high-fived their counterparts.

Eggman, sitting in his Eggmobile, hovered idly with his hands clasped behind his head, waiting for his 'minions'.

"I wonder if I'm pushing my luck, breaking into the place a third time," he wondered aloud, speaking to no one in particular.

"Perhaps. The security on the island has been upgraded since your last visit," Decoe informed. "You must be careful. When they restore communications, they will send robots to stop your team."

"Their robotic designs are greatly improved," Bocoe added. "With their new defenses, it will be almost impossible to enter that compound again."

"Well, nothing is going to stop me from breaking in and taking those Chaos Emeralds," Eggman declared. "I need to obtain all seven Emeralds in order to complete my plans."

"Are you sure it's worth the risk, Boss?" Orbot asked. Eggman laughed, grinning maniacally.

_'Once I get my machine working, I'll be unstoppable!'_ he thought to himself. Shadow and Rouge finally arrived.

"Okay, Eggy," Rouge said. "Fill 'im in."

"According to Rouge, the Chaos Emeralds are stored in a vault inside the compound. I must have them," Eggman informed the ebony hedgehog.

"No prob. Just leave it to me," Rouge said in a false sweet tone.

"I wouldn't trust her, Boss," Orbot stated.

"She wants it for herself!" Bocoe remarked. Eggman shut off his communication screen.

"They get on my nerves," Eggman growled. "Let's get down to the nitty-gritty, shall we? In the first phase of my plan, I'll go around the island wreaking havoc and drawing the guards from their posts, clearing the way for you two to enter the compound. Then, Shadow moves in. He'll blow up the whole island by sneaking into the weapons center and setting off all the ammunition stored there with this miniature detonation device."

He tossed said bomb to the black hedgehog, who easily caught it. He didn't want to take innocent lives, but he knew that they would detect the bomb and order an evacuation. He gave Eggman a nod.

"Meanwhile, Rouge will proceed to the warehouse where the Chaos Emeralds are locked away and remove them," Eggman continued. "We will then meet up at the rendezvous point and make our escape. We have exactly thirty minutes. If you run into trouble, you're on your own." Shadow and Rouge nodded. "Let's go!"

The three took of to take care of their assignments. Eggman fired several missiles at the facility. Various G.U.N. robots emerged to attack Eggman, but he nimbly dodged their attacks and fired back in return.

"Peekaboo!"

An alarm went off as Shadow sped through the building, looking for the ammunition storage. Meanwhile, Rouge located the blue Chaos Emerald.

"I can feel those Emeralds here. All I have to do is break into the vault and help myself," she said. She approached the keypad. "Ah. Cracking the code will be a cinch." She pressed a few of the keys, which opened the door, granting her access to the Chaos Emerald.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Royal Hedgehogs: King Jules, Queen Aleena, Princess Sonia, and Prince Manic, were visiting Prison Island, checking in on the prisoners they had sent there. When intruders had been detected, the head guard asked them to follow their robot, Flying Dog, to stop any intruders.

* * *

Shadow finished installing the bomb.

"Doctor, the detonator is ready to go, but I need to know how long to set the timer for," he said through his communicator.

"Good work, Shadow," Eggman replied. "You can set the detonator to go off at exactly fifteen minutes. Will that be enough time for you, Rouge?"

"Yes," Rouge, who had obtained the blue Chaos Emerald, responded through her communicator.

"All right, then. Set the detonator for ten minutes."

"Right, Doctor." Shadow set the bomb for 10 minutes, then left.

* * *

The Royal Hedgehogs were following Flying Dog when Jules spotted Shadow fleeing.

"Him again," Jules growled. Noticing that Jules wasn't following them anymore, Aleena and her children stopped.

"Dear, where are you going?" Aleena asked her mate.

"You go on ahead. I have a score to settle with that black hedgehog," Jules said, chasing after Shadow.

"Okay. Be careful." The three hedgehogs resumed following the G.U.N. robot.

* * *

Rouge uncovered a second Emerald, the white one, which was also the seventh one. "Lovely."

The Royal Hedgehogs and Flying Dog arrived. "Hey!" Rouge turned to look at them.

"Hello there," she said in her usual, flirtatious tone. "I hope you didn't come to get my Emeralds back."

"Intruder located. Preparing to attack," the Flying Dog pilot said through a radio. Rouge started to flee.

"Hold it!" Aleena ordered. Smirking, Rouge dodged the lasers Flying Dog fired, then avoided its missile. She then rebounded off a wall and destroyed one of its missile launchers.

"You're out of your kingdom, Your Highness. You have no power over me here," she sneered. The time bomb was now at 5:13 and counting down.

* * *

Shadow was skating through the forest surrounding the prison when Jules jumped in front of his path, forcing him to stop.

"Shadow, this is it," Jules growled. Shadow glared bitterly at him, still angry with him for trying to kill Sonic. "I want answers. Who are you, and what are you up to?"

Shadow smirked somewhat evilly.

"You'll find out." He practically purred it, amused. The two boars leapt at each other, starting to fight. Shadow landed several hits, while Jules, so far, only managed to land one.

* * *

Meanwhile, Rouge was still fighting Flying Dog and dodging attacks from the two sows and one boar. Manic charged at the bat.

"Watch out, boy," Rouge warned teasingly. Grabbing him as soon as he came within reach, Rouge pulled him in closer. She kissed him on the cheek, stunning him, then tossed him aside.

"Manic!" Sonia yelled, running over to check on her dazed brother.

Rouge delivered one final kick to Flying Dog, sending it into a wall before exploding into flames. Unfortunately, the only door closed, preventing any of them from escaping.

Noticing this, Rouge ran to the sealed door. She let out a disappointed sigh as she slumped in defeat, her ears and wings drooping slightly.

"Just when things were going so well." The hedgehogs then noticed that they were trapped.

"Oh no! We're trapped!" Manic, who had recovered from shock, cried. Rouge straightened up, knowing that she needed to call Shadow for help.

* * *

A tree cracked, unable to bear the weight of two fighting boar hedgehogs. Shadow and Jules fell out of the tree, landing on their backs. They got back on their feet almost instantly and resumed fighting. Shadow's communicator activated.

"Come in, Shadow!" Rouge called through the communicator. "Shadow, do you read me? I have a little problem on my end." Rouge and the hedgehogs were slumped against the door. "I'm sort of locked inside the vault with the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic's family is trapped in here too. There's no way to open it from in here, so we're stuck."

"I can't talk!" Shadow growled through the communicator. Sonia and Manic perked up slightly, recognizing Shadow's voice.

"Huh?" Rouge said, shocked.

"I have to go, now!"

"You mean... you won't help me?" Rouge asked, hurt seeping into her voice.

"Not right at this second, no!" Fighting noises were heard from the other end.

"But you _can't_ leave us! _I_ have the Emeralds," Rouge reminded him.

"I'm busy right now!" Shadow spat. Shadow then got bashed and he returned the blow, hitting him twice as hard. Rouge stood up.

"I should have known not to count on that stubborn hedgehog for any help!" She then started kicking the vault door, trying break it down in vain. She quickly gave up, knowing that she was just wasting her energy. She slumped back against the door with a defeated sigh.

* * *

"Shadow, come in now!" Eggman shouted through his communicator. "Shadow!" But Shadow and Jules were still fighting. Shadow's wrist communicator activated.

"Shadow, where are you?!" Shadow finally stopped fighting so he could listen. "That detonator will go off any second! You have to get off the island now or you're going to be blown sky-high! Do you read me?!"

"Oh no!" Jules yelled, alarmed.

"I'm not waiting for you and Rouge any longer!" Eggman growled. "You two are on your own!"

Jules immediately began worrying about his family. Shadow watched as Eggman flew over them. Shadow thought about Sonic, worrying about how he was doing.

_'Sonic...'_

* * *

"When I found two Emeralds I thought this was my lucky day," Rouge lamented. Sonia and Manic clung to their mother, fearing for their lives.

"Rouge, this is Shadow. Come in," Shadow called through the communicator. Rouge and the Hedgehogs perked up.

"I'm here!"

"Do you still have the Chaos Emeralds?"

"Of course I still have them."

"I'll be right there to pick them up."

"He's coming for the Chaos Emeralds, but what about me?" Rouge asked aloud.

* * *

King Jules was shocked by what Shadow said next.

"Dr. Eggman, I'm going back in to pick up the Chaos Emeralds for you," Shadow said through his communicator. There was only one minute left until the bomb exploded. Shadow thought about Sonic again.

_'Don't worry, Sonic. It's almost time to get you out of there.'_

Shadow pulled out his red Chaos Emerald and held it above his head. "Chaos Control."

Jules grabbed onto Shadow just as he used Chaos Control. Shadow struggled against him, but it was too late. Chaos Control teleported both of them away.

* * *

The Royal Hedgehogs and Rouge looked up as Shadow and Jules suddenly appeared in the vault.

"Shadow!" Rouge and Manic and Sonia exclaimed, the two hedgehogs recognizing the black hedgehog. Shadow easily threw Jules off of him and snatched the Chaos Emeralds from Rouge.

"Oh, what the...?" Rouge exclaimed. Only ten seconds were left until the bomb exploded. Shadow backed up and held up his red Emerald again.

"Let's go!" Shadow growled.

Rouge stood up. "Hey, hold it, Shadow! You're not gonna leave them behind, are you?" She pointed at the other hedgehogs.

"It doesn't matter to me what happens to _him_," Shadow growled, glaring hatefully at Jules. Rouge noticed the bitterness in his voice, but decided to question him about it later, as she more important things to worry about right now.

"Hey, hold on!" Manic protested. "Didn't you help Sonic save us before?" Shadow just stared at him with his intimidating, red eyes. Manic cowered at this, whimpering fearfully.

"Please, will you help us?" Sonia begged. "Sonic would rescue you if it was the other way around. You have to help us, please!"

In Shadow's mind, the image of Sonia changed to Maria.

"Please, Shadow?" the vision of Maria asked. In reality, it was still Sonia speaking.

_'Maria...'_ Shadow just stared with his mouth open slightly. Shadow activated Chaos Control seconds before the entire island exploded in a violent, fiery eruption, taking Rouge, Jules, Aleena, Sonia, and Manic with him, just barely escaping.

* * *

**("Eyecatch" Card)**

Name: Knuckles Hunter (the) Echidna

Age: 19

Species: Echidna

Height: 3' 7"

Weight: 88 lbs.

Fur Color: Red and White

Eye Color: Violet

Skin Color: Peach

Power: Supernormal Strength, Enhanced Speed, Enhanced Reflexes, Enhanced Sight, Enhanced Hearing, Gliding, Climbing, Digging, Master Emerald Control, and Treasure Hunting

Title: Guardian of the Master Emerald

* * *

**("Eyecatch" Card)**

Name: Amy Rose

Age: 15

Species: Hedgehog

Height: 3'

Weight: ?

Fur Color: Pink

Eye Color: Dark Green

Skin Color: Pinkish-Peach

Power: Enhanced Speed, Enhanced Strength, and Enhanced Reflexes

Title: Self-Proclaimed "Girlfriend" of Sonic the Hedgehog

* * *

The Royal Hedgehogs stared out the window of the observation deck aboard the ARK.

"Whoa... It's hard to believe that we really traveled into space," Manic remarked. He looked at Shadow standing behind them with his arms crossed. "And we're inside a space station?"

"We call this place Space Colony ARK," Shadow growled.

"I've never heard of it," Sonia said.

"It was built over 50 years ago by Eggman's grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik. It was kept secret for 50 years until the Doctor blew up half of the moon with the Eclipse Cannon," Shadow explained.

"Wow, a secret space colony!" Manic exclaimed.

* * *

"Hi there, Big Blue," Rouge greeted as she sat down next to said hedgehog in the kitchen of the ARK. He was eating away at a very large plate of chili dogs.

"Hey, Rouge," Sonic replied after swallowing.

"You seem like you've been in a better mood since yesterday," Rouge remarked.

"I guess," Sonic replied. Rouge tried not to cringe as Sonic ate another chili dog in one bite. Looking down at his abdomen, she saw that Sonic had noticeably gained a considerable amount of weight back.

"Well, I guess I'll leave you alone now. Hang in there, big guy," Rouge said, giving him a pat on the shoulder. With that, she left to find Shadow and update him on Sonic's current state.

"See ya, Rouge."

* * *

Shadow and Sonic's family were still staring out the window. Shadow perked up slightly as he heard Rouge enter the observation deck. He turned to look at her.

"How's Sonic doing?" he asked. Sonia and Manic perked up at the mention of their brother.

"He seems like he's in much better spirits since yesterday," Rouge replied. Shadow smiled slightly at this.

"I hoped he would be. Where is he right now?"

"In the kitchen, eating a huge plate of chili dogs. He looks like he's gained a considerable amount of weight back."

Shadow heaved a sigh of relief. He was happy to hear that his little brother was doing better now. "That's good."

"Sonic is up here too?" Manic asked. He cowered as Shadow glared at him. A low growl rumbled in Shadow's throat, causing Manic to tremble. Shadow then resumed staring at the window.

Suddenly, the sounds of a guitar and somebody singing just barely reached his ears. Rouge, with her sensitive bat ears, also heard it.

"What's that?" she asked.

"What's what?" Sonia asked. Ignoring her question, Shadow headed towards the lounge, closely followed by Rouge, who was followed by the others.

* * *

Sonic was sitting on one of the couches in the lounge, rocking out on his guitar.

_"...Must keep on moving ahead,_

_No time for guessing, follow my plan instead._

_Trusting in what you can't see,_

_Take my lead; I'll set you free._

_Follow me, set me free,_

_Trust me and we will escape from the city._

_I'll make it through._

_Follow me (Follow me), set me free,_

_Trust me and we will escape from the city._

_I'll make it through, prove it to you._

_Follow me!_

_Oh yeah!_

_Danger is lurking around every turn,_

_Trust your feelings, got to live and learn._

_I know with some luck that I'll make it through,_

_Got no other options, only one thing to do!_

_I don't care what lies ahead,_

_No time for guessing, follow my plan instead._

_Find the next stage, no matter what that may be._

_Take my lead, I'll set you free._

_Follow me, set me free,_

_Trust me and we will escape from the city._

_I'll make it through._

_Follow me (Follow me), set me free,_

_Trust me and we will escape from the city._

_I'll make it through prove it to you._

_Follow me!_

_Follow me!_

_I'll make it through, oh yeah!"_

Sonic ended his song.

"That was beautiful, Blue," Rouge complimented.

"Wha-?!" Sonic yelped as he jumped up 10 feet in the air in surprise. When he came down, he ended up knocking the couch over. Concerned, Shadow came over to help him up. Embarrassed to have done that, his cheeks became flushed as Shadow helped him to his feet, picking up his guitar afterwards.

"You okay?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah," Sonic said, still blushing. "How long have you guys been standing there?"

"Pretty much the whole song," Manic replied. Sonic returned his guitar to its medallion form, settling it around his neck.

"I didn't know you could sing or play," Rouge said.

"Yeah. I wrote that song after I had to escape from the government when they mistook him for me," Sonic explained, looking over at Shadow.

"Escape from the government?" Sonia asked.

"Long story; I'll tell you about it, and my other adventures, later."

Unlike their children, Aleena and Jules had stayed back, not ready to face Sonic yet. Shadow hadn't failed to notice this, making him suspicious.

* * *

**Again, please review! PLEASE!**


	13. Chapter 13- Change in Plans

**Reviewer (FanFiction won't let me type your name out, so I apologize; you know who you are), ****Shadow and Jules first fought in Chapter 9 of _Return to Robotropolis_, the story that this is a sequel to.**

**Please read and review! I hope you enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER**: I do NOT own _Sonic the Hedgehog_ or _Sonic Underground_!

* * *

The next day, Sonic and Jules made up. Aleena finally spoke to Sonic for the first time, but, even as the week went on, she continued to seemingly avoid him, making Shadow even more suspicious of her. Especially after he caught her snooping around; she had come into his and Sonic's room at night while they were sleeping, and, being such a light sleeper, Shadow heard her. Rather than reveal that he knew she was there, Shadow had simply cracked an eye open very slightly and watched her. She had been focused on Sonic, so she hadn't noticed.

Shadow ended up telling Sonic about it the next morning, making him feel suspicious of her as well. Sonic had already begun to feel suspicious of Aleena, but hearing that she was snooping around _really_ made him start feeling suspicious.

* * *

Sonic was sitting in the lounge with all three of his siblings, Rouge, and Scourge. Sonic was bored, which often caused him to get mischievous.

"Hey, Manic."

"Yea- Oof!" He was hit square in the face with a pillow.

"Think fast!" Sonic was grinning mischievously.

"Oh, I'm getting you, Sonic! PILLOW FIGHT!"

The brothers went around the room, throwing pillows. Sonia was hit in the face. She laughed before throwing a pillow of her own. She hit Scourge, which caused him to join in. Even Rouge, who didn't usually do things like this, was getting into it. Shadow was walking slowly around the room, occasionally throwing a pillow back at them. He snickered as he hit Scourge in the head really hard, giving him a brief bout of short-term memory loss.

* * *

**(Later That Night)**

Aleena peeked into the room. A soft chuckle escaped. The room was a mess; pillow feathers everywhere, all the young ones sleeping in different places. Did- Yes, they knocked over one of the couches. Manic and the other green hedgehog were sleeping on opposite ends of one of the remaining couches. Sonic was on the floor, Sonia laying on top of him. The bat was sleeping on the other remaining couch. Where was the-

"Why do you keep avoiding him?" Aleena whipped around; the dark hedgehog had somehow gotten behind her.

"At first, I thought it was because you haven't seen him in so long. Now I'm sure of it. You're _scared_ of him, aren't you? All your years of wishing for him to come home, you, in actuality, were _glad_ he wasn't there. You're hiding something."

Those ruby eyes. She could swear she'd seen them before. Though she had no ide- She gasped.

"The Ultimate Lifeform?! I thought that the original project was never finished!"

"Wha-? Don't change the subject! What are you hiding from Sonic?!" Shadow growled. This sow was making him uneasy.

"This makes this all the more complicated," she said to herself.

"You stay away from my son," the queen growled back.

"Sorry, but I think you should be the one to stay away from him." He wiped a hand through his quills, trying to flatten them back down, as they were bristling.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, stay away from my Faker."

Though Shadow didn't really realize that he had said 'my', he meant it. He didn't trust this sow with anything. He scoffed as he reentered the room.

"_My_ Faker? What the heck is wrong with me?" he growled.

Aleena stared after the Ultimate Lifeform, still trying to process that he had hers and Jules' DNA, thus making him their son. In all honesty, she was a little afraid of Sonic; afraid of how being away from Mobotropolis may have changed him. She was scared of Shadow too. Something about those blood red eyes sent shivers up her spine.

_'He's working for Robotnik!'_ she thought to herself. She then thought about Shadow and Sonic's behavior towards each other. _'But... Sonic seems to trust him nonetheless... Maybe he knows something we don't. If I'm going to get either of them to trust me, I'll have to trust them.'_

She left to find Jules and inform him of her discovery about Shadow.

* * *

**("Eyecatch" Card)**

Name: Princess Sonia Diva (the) Hedgehog

Age: 18

Species: Hedgehog

Height: 3'

Weight: 65 lbs.

Fur Color: Magenta and Orchid

Eye Color: Emerald Green

Skin Color: Peach

Power: Supernormal Strength, Enhanced Speed, Enhanced Reflexes, Acrobatics, and Photographic Memory

Title: Princess of Mobotropolis

* * *

**("Eyecatch" Card)**

Name: Prince Manic Knave (the) Hedgehog

Age: 18

Species: Hedgehog

Height: 3' 1"

Weight: 72 lbs.

Fur Color: Emerald Green

Eye Color: Cobalt Blue

Skin Color: Peach

Power: Enhanced Speed, Enhanced Reflexes, Enhanced Strength, and Stealing

Title: Prince of Mobotropolis

* * *

The next couple of weeks fell into a regular pattern for Shadow.

During the day, he would spend most of his time on various missions from Eggman with Rouge. In the evenings, he would try to spend as much time with Sonic as he could before they got too tired to stay up any longer. Afterwards, if he had the energy, he would teleport himself down to Mobius to visit Tails.

It worked well for Shadow. By spending time with Tails almost every night, he was able to check up on him, keeping his promise to Sonic that he would not let anything happen to the kit, and form a brotherly bond with him.

Speaking of Tails, the young fox had actually been pretty upset when Knuckles and the others decided to give up the search for Sonic and trust Rouge. Eggman had gone back to his normal routine of attacking Station Square and other areas and he, along with Knuckles, Amy, Cream and Cheese, and, occasionally, the Chaotix, were needed to stop him in Sonic's absence.

On his off days, Shadow took Sonic to Bouvet Island and ran him ragged, making sure the cobalt hedgehog was completely exhausted before bringing him back to the space station. Shadow was relieved to see Sonic's overall health and demeanor improving greatly. He could not even begin to express how happy he was now that he no longer had to put up with his younger brother's stubborn and immature cold-shoulder treatment. Sonic had gained back all the weight he'd lost while on the ARK.

The best part was that he was finally able to open up to Sonic. On their trips to the frozen island, Shadow took to asking Sonic lots of questions, ranging from his adventures with Sonia and Manic, to life outside of Mobotropolis/Robotropolis, and to his own personal interests. The blue speedster had asked similar questions and shared the story of how he met Tails, giving Shadow a deeper look into his relationship with said fox.

Currently, Shadow was beginning his preparations for a new day, heading down to Eggman's workshop on the ARK. He knew today would be a solo mission without Rouge, which was never good news for him. If it was something Rouge wouldn't do, it was something he himself would often not want to do.

"Doctor?" Shadow called for the evil genius as he stepped into the workshop.

"Catch, Shadow!" Eggman immediately threw something at the ebony hedgehog.

Using his super-speed reflexes, Shadow immediately caught the small object that had been thrown his way. Opening his hand to investigate, he found a small flash-drive in the palm of his hand.

"Phase One of the mission is simple," Eggman began. "You're going to break into the Station Square G.U.N. headquarters and upload the virus on that flash-drive into their national database."

"Why send me? Why not send Rouge?" It made more sense. Rouge had clearance into the G.U.N. headquarters; she would not have to go through the trouble of a break-in. Technically, Shadow had clearance too, but Eggman was not aware of it. As far as the evil genius was concerned, he would still need to break in. "She could get in, get on a computer, and access the database, all without arousing any suspicion."

"Rouge is not physically capable of completing Phase Two and Three of the mission and it makes no sense to switch you two around for the sake of one mission. Upload the virus and contact me for further instruction."

* * *

Sonic and Scourge bounced off the walls of the observation deck, charging directly towards each other. Both in a Spin Dash, they bounced off each other once more, uncurling and landing across from each other.

"Tired yet?" Scourge taunted.

"You wish!" Sonic charged head-on once more, launching forward with his legs out.

Scourge followed suit in the same position until both hedgehogs were across from each other, exchanging kicks, repeatedly colliding with and blocking each other's attacks.

Sonic ran directly toward Scourge, finally spotting an opening. As the green hedgehog held his foot out in front of him for a kick, Sonic put his own down, propelling himself upwards. He grabbed onto Scourge's head and threw him underneath him, projecting himself forwards.

Just as Sonic thought he had the upper hand, Scourge turned around, grabbing ahold of Sonic's leg as he fell downward.

Sonic's forward momentum was suddenly interrupted as he found himself falling along with Scourge.

Within seconds, the two boar hedgehogs were in a heap on the floor.

"Get off of me, Blue!" Scourge rolled over and pushed Sonic off of himself.

"That wasn't too bad, Scourge. Not too bad." Sonic rolled over to smirk at Scourge.

The two hedgehogs lay on the floor for a few minutes, trying to regain their breath.

"So," Scourge began between breaths. "How much longer are you going to be up here?"

"Well, since I don't really plan on working for Egghead, I'll be up here until I figure a way off." Or until Shadow decided it was time to go, but he couldn't tell that to Scourge.

"So what, you've been refusing to join Egghead for…" Scourge did the math in his head. "Seven years now?"

"Seven years? I've been fighting Eggman for that long, not counting Robotropolis, but the first time he offered me a position in the Eggman Empire was when Shadow basically kidnapped me."

"No way!" Scourge could not believe Sonic had only been offered once. Eggman had wanted him on his side for the longest time, and everything he had built was just proof of it. Was Sonic really not seeing it? "He's wanted you working for him since the day you were sent to Green Hill Zone."

"How would you know that? You've only been on Mobius for what, two and a half months?"

"You really don't see it, do you?"

"See what?" Eggman had spent years trying to either kill him or turn him into a robot. He saw that very clearly.

"No way, Blue. He wants you alive and in the flesh. You ever been in one of his bases or the Egg Carrier when it wasn't full of little robots coming to get you?"

"No." As far as Sonic was concerned, it wasn't a base or a fortress from Eggman unless there were little robots coming to get him. "What would it matter, anyways? I've seen the inside of almost all his bases and all the Egg Carriers. I know what they look like."

"Then you'd know Eggman designs all of his places with _you_ in mind."

"What?" Scourge must have been losing his mind. Unless he meant Egghead designed the bases with him in mind to try to stop him, Sonic could not see where he was getting these ideas from.

"Think about it, Blue. Isn't it easy to get around? Like, suspiciously easy to get around?"

Sonic couldn't deny that, but having super speed certainly did help when trying to get around anywhere.

"Tell me, Blue," Scourge continued. "When Eggman floods his place to try and stop you, why would he build little air pockets too? Why would he leave holes for oxygen to pass through the ground? Robots don't breathe. Wouldn't it be much easier to just drown you and get it over with? But that's just the thing; he's not trying to kill you, he's only trying to slow you down so he can carry out whatever plan he had in mind before you get to him."

"Just a structural flaw. No one's perfect." Scourge couldn't be right, could he? Every adventure he had ever gone on involving Eggman was playing in his mind.

"Now you're just in denial. Without any traps or robots, you can get from one place to another without having to slow down at all. Why would Eggman put ledges and platforms in his own base? You think he's suddenly going to take up rock climbing? You think he's active enough to make a twenty-foot jump? Why are there tunnels all over the place that are perfectly your size when you curl up into a ball? Better yet, if they weren't meant for you, why didn't Eggman just get rid of them when he saw you were using them to your advantage? Why does he keep building them into every new base he makes?"

Sonic thought intensely about everything Scourge was saying. As much as he loathed admitting it, the green hedgehog was actually making sense. All the pipes and tunnels were just the right size for him, platforms were scattered in just the right places so he could get around, and many of the robots were only equipped with minimal offensive tactics to pose no real threat to him.

Even the architecture and machinery were designed for him. The whole placed was designed for high-speed impacts and super speed. Even small things, like Eggman's non-skid floors were making Sonic realize the truth; Eggman really had been after him. For years.

The more he jogged his memory of the past, the more he realized how long this was going on. Even his early years with Tails in Chemical Plant Zone all proved that what his green counterpart was saying was true.

"It's not just you he wanted though; he also wanted the little squirt," Scourge said as if he knew what Sonic was thinking about. "That kid could rival Fatso's genius. He could be useful in building new machines. That, and Eggman knew the two of you were a package deal. The only way he would even have the slightest chance of getting you to agree to join him was if he agreed to let your lil' bro come too."

And he was after Tails too? Sonic suddenly didn't feel so well. His expression went from doubt to dreadful realization.

"Now you see it?" Scourge sat up, smiling at Sonic's expression.

Sonic sat up as well, at a much faster speed. Suddenly, he leaned forward and threw up.

"Gross, Blue!"

* * *

"All right, Doctor," Shadow spoke into his communicator. "The virus has been uploaded."

"Excellent. Now it's time for Phase Two of the plan. I want you to blow up the headquarters."

"What?" Did he really just hear what he thought he heard?

"You heard me! Blow the place sky high! I want you to completely obliterate the place. I don't want any part of that building left standing by the time you are done, do you hear me? Not even the foundation!"

"There are people here, Doctor." He was not going to murder a bunch of innocent soldiers just because he was told to! He was not going to do what G.U.N. did fifty-three years ago. "I won't do it."

"It would be a shame if something were to suddenly happen to Sonic."

Shadow's anger flew through the roof.

"_What_ did you say?" he growled. Eggman was lucky he was thousands of miles away or he would have been dead on the spot. "Are you threatening me?"

"No, not at all." Eggman used a cool and relaxed tone with Shadow when he spoke. "I'm just concerned for your precious little brother is all. He's in my workshop now and with so many tools, sharp objects, and pieces of dangerous equipment in there, it would be a shame if something was to accidentally happen to him."

Shadow remained silent, seething in rage.

"You know where the G.U.N. armory is. That building better be nothing more than a pile of rubble by the end of the morning. Contact me for instruction on Phase Three once you're finished."

The transmission ended.

* * *

Topaz jumped up in shock as her office door was suddenly torn off its hinges and throw down the hallway.

"Shadow?" She stood up from her desk to see what was going on. "Are you okay?" Why on Mobius would he break down her door like that?

"You need to order an evacuation of the whole building. Right now!" He was told to destroy the building, not kill the soldiers. Shadow would be cursed if he was going to stoop to such a low level of evil if he had other options.

"An evacuation? What for?" Though Shadow's tone had implied to her that there was no other option, she still had to ask.

"You are all in danger, you have to leave now!"

"Shadow, I don't have the power to do that. Even if I did, I couldn't order an evacuation just because someone told me to. G.U.N. sensors have to pick up something unusual and there have been no reported threats. You can speak with the commander, but I doubt he'll evacuate the whole building just to convince Eggman that you and Rouge are following orders. Shadow, can you at least tell me what the danger is?"

This was getting him nowhere. He needed results now. Shadow knocked Topaz out of the way as he grabbed her desk and smashed it against the wall.

"Then tell your commander I'm not pretending!" Shadow grabbed the nearby file cabinet and resigned it to the same fate as the desk. "Tell him the Ultimate Lifeform has snapped and is coming for every single person in this building!"

"Shadow!" Topaz had no idea what had gotten into the black hedgehog. He had never acted up like this before.

"Now!" Shadow grabbed Topaz' office chair and threw it at her.

Not waiting to see what Shadow would destroy next, Topaz ran out of the office to do just as the Ultimate Lifeform had told her to do.

With Topaz out of the room and the evacuation sure to follow, Shadow began rigging the room up with explosives.

He followed this pattern down every single room in the headquarters, destroying everything in sight to scare the headquarter employees and scientists out while fighting off the remaining agents who chose to stay and try to defeat him. Of course, none stood a chance and as soon as the room was cleared out he would plant more explosives.

Once the entire headquarters was cleared out and rigged to blow, he teleported himself outside.

Luckily, the headquarters was outside the city limits where the blast wouldn't cause too much damage. From his hiding place in the trees surrounding the area, Shadow pressed the button on the detonator, watching as bit by bit, the whole building came crumbling down.

All the agents and employees backed away in a panic as the explosions went off, scrambling to get out of the blast zone.

Shadow's communicator went off, signaling he was receiving a call. He answered it with a frown.

"Well done, Shadow!" Eggman congratulated without a greeting.

"Where is Sonic?" Shadow demanded, not wanting to hear what else the madman had to say. "I want to talk to him! Now!"

"Oh, fine, be like that." Eggman's voice disappeared from the line as the radio must have been handed over to Sonic.

"Hello?" Sonic greeted/asked in confusion. Why would Shadow call him when he could just see him in person?

"Sonic? Are you all right? You're not hurt are you? How are you feeling? Eggman didn't do anything to hurt you, did he?" Shadow rapid-fired the questions at Sonic.

"Shadow, Shadow!" Sonic stopped him in his tracks, barely grasping what the other hedgehog was saying. "Relax! I'm fine. What's going on?"

"You're not hurt?" Shadow asked once more, needing a straight answer.

"Uh... no, I don't think so. Want me to count my limbs to make sure they're all there?" Sonic joked, not understanding the gravity of the situation.

Shadow sighed in relief, ignoring Sonic's jab.

"But Egghead did give me-" Sonic couldn't finish his sentence as the radio was pulled out of his grasp.

"We're postponing Phase Three of the operation until later. Come back to the ARK."

* * *

"Sonic!"

Said hedgehog found himself in an embrace from Shadow the moment the black hedgehog had laid eyes on him. "Are you all right, Shadow?" Sonic pulled away, looking Shadow in the eye. "You've been acting really strange today."

"I'm just glad to see you're okay. That's all."

Why would he not be okay? Sonic still didn't understand what triggered Shadow to suddenly be in a frenzy about it. Before he could ask any questions, Shadow grabbed his arm and examined his wrist.

"Sonic," he asked. "What's this?" Whatever it was, it was a sleek, thin, metallic cuff with a screen on it.

"Egghead put it on me. He said it's to make sure I don't get another gallstone." Sonic touched the screen and moved his wrist over in front of Shadow to show him. "He says it keeps track of vitals and stuff." He swiped the screen, bringing up a reading of his blood pressure. Swiping again, he brought up a reading of his body temperature. "It's pretty neat, but I wish I could take it off."

"You can't take it off?" Shadow took ahold of Sonic's wrist once more to examine the device. There was an incredibly thin crevice in the metal, most likely where it had been snapped shut on the blue hedgehog's wrist, but other than that, there appeared to be no other way to remove the thin cuff.

"Shadow?" Sonic couldn't help but notice he had been strangely fascinated with the device.

With an aggravated growl, Shadow took off, leaving Sonic to wonder what that had been all about.

* * *

"Ah, welcome back, Shadow."

In a flash, Shadow had Eggman by the front of his coat. "Cut the chatter! What the h*** is that thing?! What did you put on Sonic?!"

"Why, it's just a vital monitor. And a pretty nifty watch too, if I might add."

Shadow let loose a Chaos Spear at a nearby workstation in his rage. "Don't. Play. Games. With. Me."

Dropping the act, Eggman returned the hedgehog's glare. "You're lucky there was nothing important on that table."

"Answer my question!" Shadow was running out of patience.

"All right then, let's cut to the chase. It's a bomb."

"What?!" It took all of Shadow's willpower not to blow Eggman's head clean off his shoulders.

"I'm going to let this little incident go, but I won't tolerate any further insubordination from you, Shadow. All it takes is one click of a button, and BOOM!, you're an only child again."

Shadow let go of Eggman's lab coat, storming out of the office, snarling.

"Oh, and Shadow!" Eggman called out before he left the workshop. "I wouldn't try to take it off. If it senses anything unusual, it'll detonate all on its own."

* * *

**Again, please review! It really helps to improve my writing!**


	14. Chapter 14- Trying to Fix Things

**Please read and review! I hope you enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER**: I do NOT own _Sonic the Hedgehog_ or _Sonic Underground_!

* * *

"What'cha got there, bro?" Manic asked as he watched Sonic mess around with something on his wrist.

"It's from Egghead. A smart watch... I guess?" Sonic still wasn't sure what it really was. He was trying to mess around with it, searching for a settings option on the screen. "It's nice and all, but I'm trying to figure out how to take it off."

"Just pull it off."

"It's a little more difficult than that." He had been trying for a good twenty minutes before giving up.

"Let me try." Manic adjusted his gloves and vest.

Sonic rolled his eyes, but allowed Manic to have a try.

Manic tried his best to pull the cuff apart at the metal crease to no avail. Too stubborn to admit when he was beat, the green hedgehog forcefully continued.

It was then when Shadow entered the lounge. He immediately caught sight of Manic attempting to remove the device.

A sudden whiplash of air struck Sonic as he suddenly found himself standing alone. He looked to the end of the room to see Shadow pinning Manic to the wall.

"Shadow!" He sped to the black hedgehog's side, grabbing his arm and pulling him away from Manic. "What are you doing?!"

Manic was trembling and, unknowingly, wet himself out of terror. He rubbed his head where Shadow had slammed him into the metallic walls.

Shadow just growled in frustration, knowing that if he told Sonic what was on his wrist, he risk either him, Scourge, or even Manic attempting some botched method at disarming it.

"Shadow." Sonic grabbed his arm, forcing the dark hedgehog to look at him. "What's gotten into you lately? Are _you_ okay?"

"I'm fine." Shadow pulled his arm out of Sonic's grasp. Gently grabbing his arm, he pulled Sonic to the side to talk to him. Meanwhile, Manic left to find a mop to clean up the mess he made.

"Don't mess with that thing, Sonic," Shadow whispered. He bit his lip. "It's a bomb."

"What?!" Sonic yelled, his eyes widening in shock. Shadow put his finger on Sonic's mouth and shushed him.

"It's set to detonate if you leave the ARK or try to remove it, so please, don't mess with it," Shadow said. He looked down guiltily, tears forming in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry about all this, Sonic," he whispered. Sonic stared at him, surprised to see Shadow actually crying. "I've been selfish. I've spent so much time trying to learn the truth about what happened fifty-three years ago; about why I couldn't remember much that I couldn't see what was in front of me. Even when I learned you were my brother, I've left you up on the ARK and put you at risk, all so I could selfishly fulfill that goal. I realize now what's really important. I've been fighting so hard for a chance to remember the family I had in the past that I'm going to lose the family I have in the present. I'm sorry it took me so long to realize this. I'm sorry you've had to go through this whole ordeal. I'm sorry I've left you to be Eggman's prisoner for so long, but I swear, I'll do whatever it takes to fix this. You're my only family, Sonic. I'm not going to lose you."

As Shadow's tears began to roll down his cheeks, he nuzzled Sonic's cheek in brotherly love. Touched, Sonic teared up.

"Aww, Shads..." Sonic pulled Shadow into a hug, stroking his back to comfort him. "It'll be okay. We'll get through this. As a family."

Smiling and letting out a cat-like purr, Shadow pulled out of the hug and dried his tears.

"I'll try to figure this out. In the meantime, try not to mess with that thing," Shadow said as he left. As he tried to think of what to do, he got himself worked up again.

* * *

Rouge glanced upwards from her book as Shadow entered the library, visibly upset. Choosing not to acknowledge the obvious, she returned her attention to her book. Even she needed her down time.

Shadow began pacing back and forth through the library, trying to find a way out of his current predicament.

Though she tried her best to stay focused, Rouge gave a defeated sigh. Shadow would stick around until he had her attention.

"No, I wasn't doing anything," she said in a sweet yet sarcastic manner, "Come on in, let me get you some tea."

"The Doctor has put a huge dent in our plans. Not only can I not get Sonic out of here, G.U.N. will no longer be helping us."

Rouge set her book down and dropped all traces of humor from her tone. "Why won't G.U.N. help us?" They had been providing support and resources for them the whole time she was up on the ARK. Why would they suddenly stop now? And for what reason?

Right. Rouge probably had no idea of what he had done that morning. "I may or may not have... destroyed the place."

"Destroyed? What do you mean destroyed?"

"I mean, I rigged every room in the headquarters with C-4 and blew the place off the map. The whole building is gone!"

Rouge gasped in shock. "And everyone... inside?" She knew Shadow; he would never take innocent lives. Would he?

"I personally made sure no one was inside, but that's not the problem. The problem is that Eggman has strapped a bomb to Sonic. A bomb that's set to go off if he leaves the ARK or tries to dismantle it."

"All right, all right. Let's relax, we can figure this out; we're just going to need some time."

"No!" Shadow shouted suddenly. "We don't have any more time. I can't risk Sonic's life! I can't be alone! Not again…" He sat down beside Rouge on the library couch and began rubbing his temples. "We're going to have to speed things up."

"We don't even know what Eggman's plans are to speed them up."

"Then we're going to have to find out. Next time the good Doctor steps out, we'll raid his workshop and try to find out what he's been doing up here all this time. We'll search for blueprints, files, clues, anything that will give us some of idea of what he had planned or any way of getting that... thing off Sonic."

* * *

**("Eyecatch" Card)**

Name: Queen Aleena Diana (the) Hedgehog

Age: 36

Species: Hedgehog

Height: 3' 11"

Weight: ?

Fur Color: Lavender and Purple with faint Gray streaks due to age.

Eye Color: Baby Blue

Skin Color: Peach

Power: Magic, Enhanced Speed, Enhanced Reflexes, and Enhanced Strength

Title: Queen of Mobotropolis

* * *

**("Eyecatch" Card)**

Name: King Jules Cayden (the) Hedgehog

Age: 38

Species: Hedgehog

Height: 4' 1"

Weight: 101 lbs.

Fur Color: Cobalt Blue and Brown with Gray streaks due to age.

Eye Color: Chestnut Brown (partially blind in left eye due to partial roboticization)

Skin Color: Tan-ish Peach (right arm made of metal due to partial roboticization)

Power: Electrokinesis, Enhanced Speed, Enhanced Reflexes, and Enhanced Strength

Title: King of Mobotropolis

* * *

Shadow slammed his fist on the metallic doors in frustration. "Why won't they open?! We've always been able to get in before!"

"Can you really blame him?" Rouge asked. "It's not too surprising that you would try to break in. The man is a genius; it's going to take a little more than just some snooping around to foil his plans."

"Then why don't you throw a whole wrench into them?"

Rouge and Shadow turned around to see Scourge standing a bit down the hall with some rolled up papers, clearly blueprints, in his hand.

"Scourge?" Rouge was surprised. It wasn't like Scourge to be of any help to them, especially if they were trying to save the world. Why would he go out of his way to get the blueprints?

"Oh, come on, don't look at me like that!" He was actually doing something nice for once, couldn't they just be grateful? "You know I hate Fatso as much as the next guy."

Shadow and Rouge still stared in disbelief, not sure if Scourge was pulling their legs.

"You want these or not?" Scourge asked angrily. So much for trying to help.

Shadow suddenly appeared beside Scourge, pulling the rolled up papers out of his hands.

"Yes, we want these!"

Not wasting any time, he unrolled the papers on the floor. Rouge and Scourge kneeled down beside Shadow, observing the plans.

Shadow felt a sense of dread as Rouge read the label on the papers. "A roboticizer?"

"He wants to turn everyone on the planet into robots?" Though he had never actually seen one in his life, Shadow did recall hearing about this type of machine from Sonic. According to his brother, it was what Eggman was doing to everyone back in his early days of ruling over Robotropolis. "It all makes sense now. The Emeralds, the generators, the fact that he picked the ARK to orchestrate it all. It makes perfect sense."

The ARK already had a massive energy beam pointed at Mobius. All it would take was some tweaking to get it shoot a roboticizer ray instead of the death ray Gerald had programmed it for. The second generator would provide more energy or prevent an overload, depending on what was needed.

"Where is Eggman now?" Shadow asked Scourge. "What is he doing?"

"He told me he's going to initiate 'Phase Three' of his plans. Said he needed to destroy some satellites or something. He took a bunch of robots with him."

"The G.U.N. satellites. With the headquarters gone and a virus running amok in the national database, it'll be too difficult for the government to put up a decent military resistance against Eggman's attack." Shadow wondered why Eggman had gone to take care of the task himself rather than have him finish it himself.

"With G.U.N. in shambles, he's got the whole world in the palm of his hands. Are we going to stop him?" Rouge asked Shadow, unsure of how much of a risk he was willing to take with Sonic's life on the line.

"With everything in place, I highly doubt the Doctor will be needing us any longer. We're," Shadow took ahold of Rouge's wrist. "going to Mobius to stop Eggman. That man's ego is way too big to pull off a scheme like this without gloating to the entire planet. We still have time to stop him. You," He jabbed Scourge sharply in the chest. "are going to stay up here and not do anything stupid!"

* * *

Scourge pulled the Chaos Emeralds out of the heart of the ARK, a frown plastered across his face.

"Don't do anything stupid, Scourge," he spoke in a high-pitched mocking voice to himself. "We're just going to ignore you, Scourge." He removed another Emerald from the engine. "Don't do anything that could be of help, Scourge. We want to hog all the glory for ourselves!"

Once all the Emeralds were out, Scourge turned his attention to the other devices and machines in the workshop. He didn't know what they were for, but it couldn't be anything good.

Doing what he did best, the green hedgehog curled up into a ball and began bouncing around the room, destroying everything in sight.

He stopped once all the loose machines were in pieces on the floor. Not wanting to risk bringing the ARK crashing to the planet, he avoided anything that looked like it might have been part of the life support system or anti-gravity system. Satisfied, he pulled one of the six Emeralds out of his jacket.

"Chaos Control!"

* * *

Tails was working in his workshop when a blinding flash of light suddenly announced the arrival of a guest. As soon as Tails laid eyes on the green hedgehog, he dropped everything, scooting backwards in absolute terror. "Wh-what do you want?" he asked, stuttering from nerves. He grabbed the nearest tool, a wrench, and held it up as a weapon.

"Relax, Squirt. I'm not here to hurt you."

Not believing a word he said, Tails swallowed his fear and stood up, charging for Scourge as he swung the wrench around.

Scourge sidestepped the attack easily as Tails came around again, still swinging the wrench. "Come on, kid; I'm being serious!"

"You really think I'm going to believe anything you say?" Tails shouted back. Scourge must have been delusional to think he would welcome him into his workshop. "I'm young, not stupid!"

"Come on, don't be like that," Scourge genuinely pleaded. To be fair, he could understand Tails' reluctance. Waiting until Tails was close enough, he reached out and grabbed both of the kit's arms, wrestling the wrench out of his grasp.

In a moment of pure adrenaline and desperation, Tails leaned over and sunk his sharp teeth directly into Scourge's arm.

Scourge shouted in pain, letting go of Tails. In his shock, he was caught off guard as Tails suddenly swung around, using his tails to send him flying out the window.

The green hedgehog groaned as he landed outside the workshop. He could feel the shards of glass in his back and could feel the blood running down his quills. Unfortunately, he needed the little fox alive, so he would have to put a lid on his anger.

"Fine," he growled between his teeth. "Make this hard on both of us!"

With a roll and jump, Scourge was back inside the workshop, having entered through the broken window. Looking around, he found no trace of the young fox, save for the open back door, which he had certainly used to escape.

Not wasting any time, he took off and caught up with Tails in only a second. He immediately jumped, grabbing the fox by the waist and tackling him to the ground.

Doing the only thing that had worked before, Tails took another bite out of Scourge's arm.

Gritting his teeth to prevent from letting go, he shouted, "Chaos Control!"

Tails had been too preoccupied with trying to defeat Scourge; he never noticed the change in scenery. Even as Scourge let go of him, he still held on with his mouth, kicking all the while.

Their current whereabouts were the ARK library, where Sonic, Sonia, and Manic were sitting, their mouths agape in shock at the sight of Tails madly attacking Scourge.

"Get him off of me, Blue!" Scourge held his arm out, where Tails still had his teeth imbedded with his eyes shut, not wanting to see what Scourge was planning on doing to him.

With a small burst of speed, Sonic was suddenly behind Tails, gently grabbing the kit from underneath his arms, trying to pry him off.

"Tails, buddy, it's okay," he spoke gently into his adoptive little brother's ear. "Don't be afraid."

Recognizing whose voice it was, Tails opened his eyes immediately and let go of Scourge. "Sonic?" Suddenly, he was in a bone-crushing hug as Sonic pressed him close to him.

Immediately wrapping his arms around his adoptive big brother, he tried his best to hold back his tears, finally happy to see Sonic alive and well. He felt his fur dampen, indicating Sonic had let his own tears flow freely.

"Yeah, don't mind me," Scourge muttered, unaware and uncaring of the deep, emotional moment occurring before him. "I'll be fine." He wiped the blood from the bite marks away.

* * *

"Stop moving, Blue!" Scourge said frantically.

Sonic sat in the library, his arm resting on a table as Tails had tools scattered all around them, attempting to disarm the bomb on his brother's wrist.

"This is a little nerve wracking. You try, knowing you might just blow up at any minute!" Sonic couldn't stop his legs from tapping and seemed to have a constant itch in his ears that started when Tails first successfully opened up the metal surrounding of the cuff.

"Sonic, if you don't stop moving, we're all going to know what it's like to be splattered across the wall." As much as Tails hated to admit it, Scourge was right. Sonic needed to relax.

"…I need to pee."

Tails, Scourge, Sonia, and Manic looked at Sonic disbelievingly.

Tails sighed. "Scourge, would you go get him a bucket, please?" This whole situation would probably have been a lot less stressful if Sonic would stop distracting him and just calm down.

"What?!" Sonic cried. "I'm not going to pee in a bucket with you guys watching! Especially not in front of Sonia!"

"Ew, Sonic!" Sonia and Manic cried out.

"Don't be gross, Blue!" Both Scourge and Sonia would have slapped him upside the head had they not have to worry about accidentally triggering the bomb.

"If you ever want to pee again, you'll pee in the bucket. I promise I won't watch," he added while rolling his eyes.

"Never mind," Sonic muttered. "I'll just hold it."

* * *

"Good morning, citizens of Station Square and the rest of the world!" Eggman's voice boomed on every electronic device and screen around the globe.

Rouge and Shadow jumped back suddenly as the robots they had been working on disarming suddenly came to life. Shadow grabbed Rouge's arm and jumped back even further, out of the robot's blasting range.

The remaining intact robots began marching forward, paying no mind to their destroyed brethren.

"What's the point of these robots anyways?" Rouge asked as they landed. "I highly doubt he needs to level the city to roboticize it."

From the blueprints Scourge had stolen, they were able to see what plans Eggman had laid out in preparation for the robotization. Part of those plans included hiding robots across the city and activating them once he was ready. The two used this information to find these hidden hubs and destroy as many as they could before Eggman moved forward.

"Doesn't matter. With G.U.N. out of commission and Sonic trapped, we're going to have to be the ones to stop them," Shadow remarked as he watched the platoon of robots trample everything in their path.

"I wonder whose fault that is." Rouge nudged Shadow with a smirk on her face.

"Not now, Rouge!"

* * *

Meanwhile, on the completely other side of the city at Mystic Ruins, Knuckles lay against the Master Emerald, completely unaware of what was becoming of the city. That fact was soon to change as he cracked an eye open, hearing someone calling out his name.

"Knuckles!" Amy shouted as she and Cream and Cheese approached the Master Emerald Shrine. Their need to warn Knuckles of what was going on was fulfilled when a group of robots suddenly appeared around the Master Emerald.

Knuckles immediately jumped up into a defensive stance. Not wasting any time, he began doing what he did best: punching wildly.

Amy, Cream, and Cheese joined the attack. Amy called her Piko Piko hammer into her hand.

With only a few robots attempting to take the shrine, they were defeated quickly by the three anthros and the one Chao.

"What are these robots?" Knuckles asked Amy as he began picking up the remaining metallic scraps and throwing them off the edge of the shrine into the ocean below.

"We don't know," Cream answered truthfully.

"But they're appearing all over the world. Most of them are just... stationary," Amy added.

"Stationary?"

"Yeah. According to the news, they're just standing in major cities around the world, including Station Square, doing nothing. Maybe they're waiting for orders to strike?"

Knuckles frowned at the oil stains left behind on the ancient rock of the Shrine. He would have to come back and clean the rest of the mess up later. "Whatever they are, they can't be good. Let's get Tails; he's good with this kind of stuff. Maybe he can give us a better idea of what these robots are for."

* * *

"Tails?" Amy called as she stepped into the front door, which had been left wide open.

Dread had immediately filled Knuckles, Amy, Cream, and Cheese as they had approached the workshop. The shattered window had immediately tipped them off to some foul play.

Inside, Amy could see Tails' tools and supplies strewn about in a mess on the floor.

"What happened here?" Knuckles asked, surprised to see the place in ruins.

Amy approached the shattered window when a piece of fabric caught her eye. Grabbing the piece of black cloth, she knew exactly what had happened.

"Scourge." She turned to show Knuckles what she had found.

"That scumbag!" Knuckles was so angry, he could have smashed a hole right in the wall of the workshop.

Tremors shook the ground as an explosion was heard nearby.

"What now?" Cream whimpered. Amy couldn't believe so many bad things were happening in such close proximity to each other.

The small group ran outside to see the nearby train station on fire.

"Eggman," Knuckles said between clenched teeth. "He must be trying to trap us here so we can't stop him." With him, Amy, and Cream unable to use Chaos Control, they would have to rely on the train to get them to the city. "Whatever happened to Tails, we'll have to figure out later. Right now, we have to stop Egghead before he destroys the city and our only way there!"


	15. Chapter 15- The Battle Continues

**Please read and review! I hope you enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER**: I do NOT own _Sonic the Hedgehog_ or _Sonic Underground_!

* * *

Outside of Station Square, Rouge and Shadow continued to destroy the massive robot army, or at least attempted to. As soon as the stationary robots had sensed they were under attack, reinforcements had arrived to stop them.

Luckily for the duo, reinforcement for them had arrived as well. Scattered G.U.N. agents and members of the Station Square Police Force had joined the scuffle, using their own weapons and technology to retaliate against Eggman's robots.

"Look at the bright side," Rouge said to Shadow between heavy, exhausted breaths. "At least they're not attacking us." Considering what Shadow had done, she was genuinely surprised she was not dodging bullets from her fellow agents.

Shadow landed from an attack, his back directly to Rouge's. "They must be desperate for help." With G.U.N. communications down completely, there was no way any orders could have been issued. The agents must have taken it upon themselves to stop Eggman. "I'm not complaining."

The two split up once more and launched themselves forward into an attack. As they progressed from robot to robot, Rouge saw Shadow motioning towards the sky. Jumping off her latest destroyed enemy, she grabbed Shadow's outstretched arm and spread her wings, flying upwards.

Landing on a nearby rooftop, Rouge let go of Shadow's arm before dropping herself into a crouch on the building.

"What's the plan, boss?" she asked as she dusted her boots off.

"The police and G.U.N. can handle those robots. We need to stop the rest of the platoons from destroying the city. Where is the next closest attack?"

An explosion was suddenly felt as parts of the street flew up from the ground directly besides the building they were perched on.

"Well, that looks like it came from the subway," Rouge said as she looked over the edge of the building to see the smoke rising from the cavern that had opened up after the explosion.

Another explosion farther off caught her attention as people ran screaming in the opposite direction.

"Look at that, I'm sure that's Twinkle Park." Another explosion.

"And look over there, I think that's the train station. Take your pick."

Shadow growled in frustration. "We can't win like this. We can't stop these robots alone, and that's only considering the robots in Station Square! Eggman has been planning this attack for months, who knows how many there are around the planet?!" The ebony hedgehog paced around the rooftop for a few moments, thinking the situation over.

"What should we do?" he asked his former girlfriend, unable to come up with an answer to the problem himself.

"Well…" Rouge began, knowing Shadow would most likely not approve of her solution. "The robots are all receiving their orders from one place. If we shut that place down, the robots should all stop." Reaching into her pocket, she removed a small device.

Shadow looked at the small, metal device, knowing exactly what it was. It was the detonator for the generator they had given Eggman from G.U.N. The one that would blow the ARK right out of the sky.

"No!" he shouted loudly and suddenly, causing Rouge to flinch.

"I'm sorry," he quickly apologized, not intending to take it out on his partner. "I just don't think we should be taking drastic measures just yet."

Sonic was still up on the ARK. Rouge knew Shadow would give anything not to lose him. She watched as Shadow stopped his pacing and simply observed the destruction of the city.

"Do you think any less of me?" the ebony hedgehog asked softly. "Do you think I'm evil for choosing my own family over the lives of billions of people?" Maybe what the previous G.U.N. commander had said about him was true. He had the blood of Black Doom flowing through his veins; maybe he really was a monster. His eyes got shinier, as if he was on the verge of tears. "Do you think I'm a monster?"

Rouge was certainly surprised by the question and the fact that Shadow looked like he might cry. Since when was Shadow so concerned about what others thought?

"Shadow, I've told you that I'd follow you to the end of the world and I meant it. You're my most trusted friend. If you decide to let Eggman take over this planet, then I'll hold to my word." She approached him and gently placed her hand on his shoulder. "Whatever choice you make, I'll be right behind you."

Shadow sighed. "Let's keep going for now. We know Eggman is somewhere here in the city. If we can find him, we may have a chance at stopping his plans completely. Let G.U.N. and the police handle the robots for now."

* * *

Tails took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. This was it. The final wire; he make or break of the device. Either one of two things could happen. One, the device would finally be deactivated. Two, the five of them would become nothing more than a distant memory, splattered across the ARK's wall.

Making the final cut, Tails could have jumped up and down. The device deactivated as the cuff split open, falling off of Sonic's wrist.

"All right!" Scourge gave Tails a somewhat painful congratulatory slap on the back. "Let's go!"

But Sonic had already sped out of the room, shouting to the others: "Hold on, I really gotta pee!" In a flash, he was back. "Okay, now we're good."

They got Jules and Aleena, then Scourge grabbed ahold of the Mobians. "Chaos Control!"

Suddenly, the seven of them were standing in heart of Station Square.

"All right, what's the plan?" Sonic asked, amused, but willing to let Scourge take the lead in saving the world for once.

"I'm going to take Squirt and your family here and find Eggman. You go find Stripes; Bats is probably with him."

"Sounds like a plan!" Sonic wasted no time taking off in search of the darker hedgehog.

* * *

Rouge flew overhead through the city as Shadow ran along beside her, jumping from building to building in order to keep up.

Just as they neared the edge of the city, Shadow's communicator went off. Motioning to Rouge, he jumped off the skyscraper and ran out of the city streets onto the beach, stopping on the now-abandoned Emerald Coast. Once Rouge landed beside him, he answered the call.

"Shadow!" Eggman's voice snapped angirly without a greeting. "Quit messing around with Rouge at the beach and get over here! I have a mission for you! I'm at the TV Station!" The transmission ended.

The two looked at each other for the next step.

"You go see what he wants," Rouge instructed. "Now that we know where he is, we can stop him. I'll go find Knuckles and the others. Give me a call once you're ready to strike."

Shadow nodded. "Chaos Control."

* * *

"Ah, Shadow, how good of you to finally come around. And all this time I thought Scourge was the lazy one around here."

"What do you need, Doctor?" Shadow asked curtly, not in the mood for his fake pleasantries.

"It's not what I need, but what you need," Eggman said with a sick smile on his face. "Here. You'll need this."

Shadow caught something as it was thrown at him. Looking at his hands, he saw the last thing he wanted to hold right now. It was a gun. "Why would I need this?"

"For your mission. You're going to assassinate the president."

Of course he would send him on that sort of mission. Eggman did not need the president dead, it was just another way of checking how loyal he was to him; not that he needed to, seeing as he still had Sonic captive aboard the ARK. He still had his SMG in his quills, but decided not to say anything about it.

"He's in the city now," Eggman continued. "There's a panic room in the Station Square Bank Headquarters building, that's most likely where his guards are taking him now. Intercept the entourage and take him down. And no funny business! I want that man six feet under or you can get used to being an only child again. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Doctor."

"I'll be taking care of the other... problems. Notify me as soon as you're done."

* * *

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the hero brigade."

Amy, Cream (and Cheese), and Knuckles stopped in their tracks as soon as they heard Eggman's voice. The four found themselves having to regain their balance as the ground shook and a massive, silver robot landed in front of them, cracking the street underneath its feet.

"Great, what are you up to now, Eggman?" Knuckles waved his fists menacingly at the evil doctor and his metallic creation.

"I'm just a simple man with a simple dream to take over the world. And here I find three annoying little pains in my side trying to crush my simple dream!" Eggman controlled the robot from his Eggmobile, maneuvering it towards Amy, Knuckles, Cream, and Cheese.

The four jumped/flew out of the way as the robot's arm swung towards them, attempting to knock them over. The arm continued to swing, smashing into the nearest light pole. They ran once more to avoid being crushed by the falling pole, watching as it smashed a car instead.

"Hold still, you little rats!" Eggman didn't hold back this time, launching several bullets and a missile from the robot at the group.

Not waiting for the megalomaniac to finally land a hit on them, Amy swung her hammer as she charged, attempting to knock the robot off its feet. Unfortunately for her, the robot remained upright, with a small dent in its legs as the only proof she had ever attacked.

Knuckles tried his luck with an attack, aiming for the robot's chest this time. Jumping upwards to reach its height, he began pummeling away with his fists, only stopping when his arms were too tired to attack any longer. Jumping backwards, away from the robot, Knuckles frowned when he saw what little damage he inflicted upon the robot himself.

"What?!"

"Your little tricks aren't going to work this time!" Eggman gave his usual high-pitched laugh as he sent the robot on another rampage, smashing into all the nearby buildings.

Knuckles, Amy, Cream, and Cheese began scrambling, trying to dodge the rain of massive debris falling on them from the destroyed structures.

As quick footed as she was, there were only so many directions Amy could jump around in before she was struck by a rather large piece of concrete on her shoulder, knocking her to the ground. She watched from the pavement as Eggman's robot smashed into yet another building. Looking over to find Knuckles, she saw he, too, had no luck as he lay on the ground, his hands over his head trying to shield himself from the debris. Same for Cream and Cheese.

Eggman laughed, intentionally causing as much damage as he could in front of Amy, Knuckles, and Cream and Cheese, knowing they couldn't stop him at this point.

The three Mobians and Chao had been struggling to fight off Eggman's current robotic monster, but between all the fighting they did to get to the city from the Mystic Ruins and all the running around saving citizens, they were absolutely exhausted.

Ignoring the pain in her body, Amy forced herself back up as Knuckles, and Cream and Cheese did the same.

"You can still run now if you'd like!" Eggman offered, watching the pitiful scene before him.

"Same to you!" Knuckles shouted back as he ran forward. He aimed for the robot, but missed as Eggman simply had it sidestep the attack. A crater formed in the ground as Knuckles struck the concrete with full force.

"I think I've had enough of this." Eggman's pod flew upwards, closer to the shoulder of the massive robot. "Time to end it all!"

The robot's mechanical arm pointed towards the exhausted echidna as it began to change, shifting from a mechanical claw to a cannon. The cannon lit up, charging to fire.

In a flash, something green flew directly into the cannon.

Suddenly, the arm exploded, flying clean off the robot's shoulders.

Shocked, Amy, Knuckles, and Cream and Cheese stepped back, braced for a surprise attack.

Out from the smoke and debris, a green ball bounced out and unrolled, revealing Scourge. The green hedgehog coughed and walked around, completely disoriented from taking the blast head-on.

"Scourge?" Amy asked, confused. Why had he attacked Eggman's robot? Wasn't he working with him?

"Don't mind me." Scourge tripped over his own two feet in dizzy state, falling forward. "I'm just trying to save the world."

Calling her hammer to her hand, Amy held it up, ready for attack. She approached cautiously, fully intending to strike the hedgehog. Knuckles, Cream and Cheese also walked/flew over, poised to attack.

"No! Amy, Cream, Knuckles, stop!"

Recognizing the voice, the anthros stopped and looked behind them to see a yellow fox flying in from overhead.

"Tails!" Ignoring the war zone before them, all three ran over to greet the fox kit as he landed. "You're okay!"

"Yeah, I'm fine, but don't hurt Scourge!" The young kit never thought he would ever be saying that sentence in his life. "He's not working with Eggman!"

"What?!" Knuckles asked. "He kidnapped you! What did he do with you?" Had he really managed to brainwash Tails in such a short amount of time? Why would Tails not want them to attack him?

"We saved Sonic! Scourge just needed my help to do it! Don't hurt him!" Tails continued pleading.

Knuckles gasped as the Royal Hedgehogs ran up. He quickly kneeled down in a respectful bow. "Your Majesties."

"Nice to see you again, Knuckles," Aleena greeted.

"It's an honor to see you again," Knuckles replied. He blushed as he respectfully kissed Sonia's hand. "Especially you, Princess Sonia." Sonia blushed in response.

Meanwhile, Amy left the group, running up to Scourge. She rolled him over, checking to make sure he was still alive as he hadn't moved since falling over. Aside from his usual two scars, he only had some minor burns on his fur.

"You're lucky; your quills took most of the attack. Not that it changes the fact what you did was flat out stupid and suicidal," she told him.

Scourged coughed some more, his lungs still filled with smoke.

"Oh, I see. When Sonic does it, he's 'heroic' and 'brave.' When I do it, I'm 'stupid' and 'suicidal.' Sorry me saving your life isn't good enough for you."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Okay, sorry. Thank you for saving our lives." She put a heavy sarcastic tone on the gratitude. "I'm just not used to seeing you do something not completely selfish."

"Scourge, you little rat!" Eggman yelled out from his Eggmobile, completely enraged. "What's the meaning of this?!"

Using Amy to support himself, Scourge held onto her shoulder as he pulled himself up into a standing position.

"Sorry, Fatso, but I've grown bored of you and this scheme. Blue's a little busy right now, so I'm going to have to stop you myself."

"If you guys saved Sonic, where is he now?" Knuckles asked, as he, Tails, and the Royal Hedgehogs were still away from the main battle and out of Eggman's hearing range.

"He's looking for Shadow right now. We came here with Scourge to find you guys and stop Eggman," Manic informed.

"All right then." Knuckles cracked his fists together. Scourge may not have been his best buddy, but there was no denying a superspeed hedgehog on their side would have been really helpful at the moment. "Let's do this."

Eggman growled angrily. He pulled out his walkie-talkie, using it to call Shadow once more. "Shadow, come take care of this traitorous scum at once!"

* * *

Shadow ran silently behind the president's armored limousine, out of sight.

Eggman had been right; it appeared the president's secret agents were taking him to the headquarters building of Station Square Bank.

The limousine pulled up to the building as the agents quickly cleared the area. Opening the door for him, they quickly ushered the president into the building.

Knowing the building's emergency defenses would be activated the moment the president was secured, Shadow wasted no time. He quickly slipped into the building through an open window a few floors up. Sure enough, seconds later, metallic doors slipped shut behind him, covering the glass which was the window and his entrance.

He couldn't have the building shut down completely; he would need a way out. Choosing to ignore the president's entourage for the moment, he skated at top speed through the building in search of the control room. Finding the security system, he quickly knocked out the guard overseeing the shut-down before he could call for help.

With one good, solid punch to the main drive, Shadow stopped the security system before it could seal off all the windows in the building. With an escape route secured, he ran back towards the entourage.

The group had not yet reached the panic room, making easy targets for Shadow. As soon as he was close enough, he jumped and began his assault. Using one swift, sharp attack per agent, he knocked out the entire guard in the blink of an eye, before they could figure out they were even under attack.

In a moment, it was only the president and Shadow left standing in the hallway.

Adrenaline pumping through him as he feared for his life, the president turned and ran for the nearest office, only putting himself into a dead end.

With a sigh, Shadow calmly entered the office.

"Shadow?" the president asked, trying to keep his voice straight. "What are you doing? Where is Agent Rouge?"

"She's attempting to eliminate the robots, sir."

"I am aware of the undercover mission the two of you are on. Are you doing this to convince Eggman you are still loyal to him?"

"Yes, sir."

"What exactly is it then? Why did you knock out my entire guard? What is it you need to do?"

"Something I wish I didn't have to." Shadow drew the gun and pointed it directly at the president. "I'm sorry, sir."

* * *

**Oh no, Shadow!**

**Please keep sending me reviews! It really helps!**


	16. Chapter 16- Fixing This Mess

**Please read and review! I hope you enjoy it!**

**DISCLAIMER**: I do NOT own _Sonic the Hedgehog_ or _Sonic Underground_!

* * *

Sonic ran through Station Square in search of Shadow. With his speed, it should have been no problem at all to find him, but the blue speedster found himself having to make continuous stops, be it to save a citizen in danger or stop a stray robot here and there. After a good half hour, he finally spotted the black hedgehog tailing what he knew was the president's limousine.

Mildly curious, Sonic hung back even further, wondering what Shadow was doing. He watched as Shadow tailed the guards, sneaking around the back of the building and climbing into a window.

Within moments, steel doors appeared behind the normal glass, sliding ones, sealing off the entrance. Steel coverings began appearing on the windows and all other entrances to the building before suddenly stopping.

Sonic smiled at his luck. Jumping onto the building directly across from the bank headquarters, he began ricocheting back and forth between the two buildings until he was halfway up the skyscraper, in front of the first unsealed window. He felt around the window, in search of a way to open. Seeing as there was not one, Sonic jumped back across to the adjacent building. Curling up into a ball, he rolled in place for a bit, building momentum before launching himself into the unsealed window of the headquarters, smashing it to pieces.

As soon as he was in, he took off down the hall. Running up and down every flight of stairs, he searched every office, every cubicle, every meeting room he could find. Just as he ran through the hall of the 27th floor, he caught a glimpse of two figures in an office, one his height whom could only be Shadow. What made his heart jump the most was the fact Shadow was holding a gun at the president. Making a U-turn, Sonic burst into the office, jumping directly at Shadow and tackling him to the ground.

"Shads, no!"

The two hedgehogs slammed into the wall as Sonic maintained his grip on Shadow's waist. Getting his bearings back, Shadow looked down to see what had suddenly knocked him off his feet.

"Sonic?" Dumbfounded and surprised to see his little brother with him and not on the ARK, it took a moment for the information to process. Once the initial shock faded away, Shadow grabbed Sonic and pulled him into a rib-crushing hug. He pushed Sonic away after a moment, still holding onto the blue hedgehog's shoulders. "How... What...?" He grabbed Sonic's wrist and turned it over. The bomb was gone. He pulled him into another hug, this time much gentler, and purred softly.

"Okay. I get it, Shads. I'm happy to see you too," Sonic said, patting Shadow's back. He pulled out of Shadow's grasp.

"What are you doing here?" Shadow asked, still unclear of how Sonic escaped the ARK and managed to remove the device without blowing himself up into thousands of pieces.

"What am _I_ doing here?!" Sonic asked in a sharp, yet hushed tone. "What are _you_ doing here?! And what is _this_?!" He picked up the gun from the floor and held it up.

"What is this, Shadow?!" he asked once more.

"It's..." Shadow looked over to the president, who was trying to listen in to their conversation. "a bit of a long story."

"We're fixing this, Shadow. Now!" Sonic stood up, grabbing Shadow's arm and forcing him up along with him. He dragged him along to where the president was seated on the office floor.

"Sorry about this, Mr. President, sir." Sonic began. "There was a bit of a miscommunication between me and my friend here, but we've got it all sorted out now. Right, Shads?" He gave him a jab in the side with his elbow.

"Err, right," Shadow played along, not knowing where Sonic was going with this.

Sonic leaned over and whispered into Shadow's ear. "Go help him up!"

Shadow walked forward and awkwardly extended his hand to the president. "Let me give you a hand, sir."

Unsurprisingly, the president did not accept his offer. The hedgehog _had_ held a gun to his face; for all he knew there was still something else hidden up his sleeve.

Noticing the president was not going to cooperate with Shadow, Sonic stepped forward and pulled the president to his feet.

"It's best if you stay here, sir," Sonic instructed him. "If we find any G.U.N. agents, we'll send them your way. Meanwhile, Shadow and I will go clean up the mess outside, save the world, you know, do what we do best."

"Of course." The president straightened his suit jacket out and cleared his voice, trying to regain his authoritative air. "Please, save the people of Station Square and the rest of the world."

"Will do, Mr. President." Sonic gave him a salute. "Now, if you'll excuse us-"

"Oh, Shadow," the president stopped Sonic before he could take off.

"Yes, sir?"

"I expect to have a meeting with you and Agent Rouge as soon as this ordeal is over."

"He'll be there. Don't you worry, sir. You have my word," Sonic answered. He grabbed Shadow's shoulders and physically turned him around, forcefully pushing against his back to march him out of the room.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Shadow turned around and moved Sonic's hands away from himself.

"I'm really happy to see you're okay, Sonic, but you still haven't told me what you are doing here."

"I'm saving the world, Shadow." Sonic stopped in his tracks, taking on a more serious tone. "Now, either one of two things is going to happen. Either you're going to fight with me to take down Eggman." He moved his feet so he was in an attack-ready position, arms up and ready to strike as well. "Or you're going to fight against me."

Shadow put his hand over Sonic's fist, pushing it down.

"I'm on _your_ side, Sonic. I'm not going to fight you." He would be the stubborn hero until the end; he knew that much for sure.

Sonic dropped the serious act, a smile spreading across his face.

"Great! Come on!" In a flash, he had run to the end of the hall and smashed another window open to exit the building. Shadow followed after, catching up with Sonic.

"So, what's Egghead's grand scheme this time?" Sonic asked as soon as Shadow was at his side.

"Eggman's turned the ARK into one massive Roboticizer, pointed directly towards the planet. In the meantime, he's launched a robot invasion of the whole planet; probably trying to make sure no one can launch a decent counter attack against him. He's already destroyed G.U.N. communication satellites, so most of the military is running around blind at the moment."

"No, it's not an invasion." Sonic had seen this before in Robotropolis. He knew exactly what Eggman was truly planning to do. "He's not even trying to roboticize the planet. Shadow, do you know what happens if you try to roboticize a robot?"

"No." He had never even seen someone be roboticized.

"It explodes. And not a little short-circuit or anything, we're talking a huge, 30-foot explosion in every direction. All the robots here are not to invade or prevent a counter attack; they're to serve as massive, easy-to-make bombs. Eggman's not going to roboticize the planet; he's going to level it so he can build his empire on top of the remains."

"You're sure of this?" Shadow asked.

"Definitely. I've stopped this scheme before, and I'll stop it again." Hopefully, this time, no one will be roboticized in the process. "Where is the Egghead now?"

Shadow's communicator went off as both heard Eggman's voice. "Shadow, come take care of this traitorous scum at once!"

Sonic smirked. "All right, then! Let's go!"

* * *

Even Tails had to smile as he watched Scourge completely obliterate Eggman's robot.

From the original damage he had caused in the arm, Scourge had curled himself into a ball and entered the robot's inside through the hole left behind from the cannon blast. Once inside, he simply bounced around, destroying all internal wiring and circuit boards.

"I'm not late to the party, am I?"

Amy, Cream and Cheese, Knuckles, Tails, and the Royal Hedgehogs turned to greet Rouge as she landed.

"Afraid so," Knuckles answered. "Scourge's got this pretty under control."

As soon as he was satisfied the robot was down, Scourge bust out through the top, blowing the robot's head off in the process.

"Scourge!" Eggman shouted. At the moment, it was the most he could do. It wasn't like he had the physical prowess to fight Scourge himself.

"Shouldn't have let me into the workshop while you were building this thing, Fatso," Scourge taunted as soon as he was back on his feet. "Rule one, never trust anyone. 'Sup, Bats." He nodded towards Rouge in greeting momentarily before returning his attention to Eggman.

He never saw it coming. In an instant, Eggman found himself falling out of his Eggmobile. When he hit the ground, he immediately rolled over to see what had struck him.

"Miss me, Egghead?" Sonic asked as he stood in the Eggmobile, a huge smirk across his face.

"What?!" Eggman sat up and shouted. "How did you get off the ARK?! And how are you still in one piece?!"

"I had a little help from Scourge."

"You're welcome, by the way!" Scourge shouted to Sonic.

Eggman growled as he saw Shadow arrive at the scene. "I don't suppose you've turned against me too, have you?"

"I was never really with you to start." There was some truth in it. Shadow had only joined for journal pages, not because he agreed with what the insane scientist was doing.

"It doesn't matter. I don't need your help any longer. My robots are in place." Eggman pulled a remote device from the inside of his jacket. "Let the destruction begin!" He pushed the button to activate the Roboticizer.

The group stood around, waiting for something to happen.

"Oh, yeah. About that," Scourge spoke up. He reached into his jacket and removed the six Chaos Emeralds, dumping them on the ground. "You may be a little short on power."

Sonic laughed, maneuvering the Eggmobile on a crash course with the ground. He jumped off before it hit the ground in and burst into flames. "If you couldn't pull this off in Robotropolis with all your resources and little minions, and your massive bases and strongholds. What made you think you could pull it off here?"

"I had Shadow and Scourge, and eventually, I was supposed to have you. You three would have trumped everything I had in Robotropolis, but it doesn't matter. I'm going to level the planet one way or another." Eggman reached into his jacket one more to pull out yet another remote this device, only this time, it was more familiar.

Rouge felt a wave of shock pass through her as she saw the detonator given to her by the G.U.N. scientist in Eggman's hands. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her own detonator and smashed it open with force. Inside, she found dud parts. Hers was fake.

"You're not the only sneaky one around here, Rouge." Eggman pressed the button. "I know how that faulty generator you gave me works. It may not have the Emeralds connected to it, but it, no doubt, has enough energy stored to perform its main task."

"What did he do?" Sonia asked Rouge.

"Shadow and I gave Eggman a fake generator that was meant to blow up the ARK in the event of an emergency. It was meant to hook up with the Chaos Emeralds and destroy the ARK completely. It'll still blow the ARK up, but without the Emeralds, it won't do the job completely."

"Meaning," Eggman cut her off, wanting to reveal his plans himself. "the ARK will split apart and come hurtling towards Mobius in several pieces, scattering all over the planet. The impact of each piece alone will be enough to destroy an entire city."

"Great, it's countdown to chaos all over again," Knuckles muttered, remembering how much trouble him and the others went through the first time they had to stop the ARK from hurtling towards Mobius.

"Dr. Eggman, you are under arrest. Put your hands up above your head!" An entourage of G.U.N. agents swarmed the area, all circling around Eggman to ensure he couldn't escape, with Topaz at the lead.

Eggman let out his high-pitched laugh. "You can arrest me now, but it won't save your precious city!"

"Don't sweat it, Topaz," Sonic told her with his usual smile. "That's what Shadow and I are for. We'll take care of it, right, Shads?"

Shadow nodded, removing his Chaos Emerald, giving them seven in total.

"Glad to see you're with us, Shadow."

The seven Chaos Emeralds began reacting with each other, lighting up and circling both Shadow and Sonic. In a flash of light, both hedgehogs had turned a bright golden color as massive amount of Chaos Energy flowed through them.

"This should be much easier than last time." Even Topaz recalled her involvement in the last ARK mission they all went on as a group. "With the ARK already in pieces, all you need to do is break it up even further so it can burn up in the planet's atmosphere. There's no point in returning it to orbit as it doesn't serve any purpose."

"I think we can handle that." Sonic grabbed Shadow's arm.

"Good luck." Topaz saluted them.

In a flash, Sonic and Shadow were soaring through the sky, passing harmlessly though Mobius' atmosphere thanks to their Chaos Powers.

"You've been off the ARK for a total of, what, now?" Shadow asked Sonic as he pulled his arm out of his grasp. "Twenty minutes?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So, you've been pretty pushy for all twenty of those minutes." Shadow let out a blast of Chaos Energy, smashing one of the larger pieces in half.

Sonic laughed as he flew off to smash another piece of the ARK, shouting back, "Well, someone has to fix this mess! I thought we agreed it was going to be us!"

Within minutes, the two hedgehogs had smashed apart nearly every large chunk of the ARK, leaving only smaller pieces behind that would surely burn up upon entering the atmosphere.

"Brings back good memories, doesn't it?" Sonic called to Shadow as he rejoined him for the descent back to Mobius.

"Only you would consider a life-or-death situation a good memory."

"Any memory with a friend, even if it involves being trapped up in space for months, is still a good memory in my book."

Of course, Sonic just _had_ to stab him in the heart, didn't he?

"Let's split up. I'll take this hemisphere, you take that hemisphere. Make sure everything burns to a crisp. I'll meet you back in Station Square. Make sure you land off Emerald Coast or it's going to be in for one painful homecoming."

Before Sonic had a chance to say anything, Shadow took off.

The two split up, circling the planet at breakneck speeds, smashing the already small pieces of the ARK apart even further for good measure.

Satisfied with his work, Shadow prepared himself to land. Positioning himself so he would land in the ocean water, the black hedgehog simply allowed himself to free-fall towards the planet as the effects of the Chaos Emeralds wore off.

Suddenly, Shadow felt something slam directly into him and latch on. He didn't even need to check to know it was Sonic, as the hedgehog had taken to doing that quite a bit recently.

"Sonic, what are you doing?" he asked.

The golden glow faded from the two hedgehogs as soon as they were safely in the planet's stratosphere.

"Uhh... not much. What's up with you?" Sonic's grip on Shadow arm suddenly grew tighter as they neared the surface.

"Sonic, you need to let go. We're going to impact soon."

"No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No!" was all Sonic said, in a higher pitch than usual, before they hit the ocean water with a massive splash.

Underneath the water, Shadow felt every bit of Sonic's weight as the cobalt hedgehog panicked, pulling them down even further. Was he trying to drown them both?

Using all his strength, Shadow kept kicking as hard as he could until the two of them broke the surface of the water. "Sonic! What are you doing?!" He was almost temped to kick his brother right off of him and throw him back into the water.

Sonic wrapped his arms firmly around Shadow's shoulders, holding on for dear life. "I can't swim! Get me out of here! For the love of Mobius, get me out of here!"

_'Oh, right.'_

Terrified for his life, Sonic started to cry as he clung to the ebony hedgehog. Shadow's expression softened at this.

_'I knew he was scared of water, but I didn't know it was THIS bad. What could have provoked this? I'll talk to him about it later.'_

Lifting a hand, Shadow gently stroked the cobalt hedgehog's quills to soothe him. "Shh... It's okay, Sonic. You're all right."

Calming down a little, Sonic nuzzled Shadow's cheek. With a sigh, Shadow began swimming towards the shore with Sonic in tow.


	17. Chapter 17- Aftermath & Epilogue

**The**** final chapter! Get ready for some brotherly adorableness! Please read and review! I hope you enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER**: I do NOT own _Sonic the Hedgehog_ or _Sonic Underground_!

* * *

"Sonic!" Amy cried out as soon as the cobalt hedgehog was on the shore, wrapping her arms around his neck and giving him a spine-shattering hug. "I'm so happy to see you!"

"Ames... can't... breathe!"

"I just missed you so much!" The rose hedgehog refused to release her grip on Sonic.

Using all his remaining strength, Sonic was finally able to pull away, gasping for air. "You saw me earlier! We already went through this!"

_'He's STILL scared of water?'_ Manic thought annoyedly.

_'Does Sonic... have a girlfriend?'_ Sonia, Aleena, and Jules thought simultaneously.

Meanwhile, Shadow was only now climbing out of the ocean water, having not panicked at the sight of it and used his super-speed abilities to get to land as soon as his feet could touch something solid.

As soon as he was out, Rouge threw a towel over his shoulders.

"Emerald Resort?" Shadow asked, noticing the logo on the towel. Had Rouge really raided their linen closet?

Grabbing one end of the towel, Rouge threw it over Shadow's face playfully. "I'm sure they won't mind if the two hedgehogs who just saved their lives and their planet borrowed a couple of towels." She threw the other towel in her arm to Amy who insisted on toweling Sonic off herself.

"Job well done, gentlemen," Topaz congratulated as she approached the group of anthros. "We have Eggman in custody and he's on his way to Station Square Prison as we speak."

"Oh, yeah," Sonic spoke up as Amy dried the quills on his head. "We were supposed to tell you; the president is in the Station Square Bank Headquarters building."

"I'll send some agents to pick him up; it'll be one less thing on my to-do list."

"Speaking of to-do lists," Rouge said quietly to Shadow. "I think you and Sonic are long overdue for a chat with the others."

Shadow sighed, knowing they could not possibly put it off any longer at this point, seeing as Tails, Amy, and Cream had already met the Royal Hedgehogs. "I suppose you're right."

Thanks to his enhanced hearing, Sonic heard what Rouge and Shadow were talking about. He mentally sighed, not looking forward to telling all his friends about being royalty and Shadow being his brother.

"You and Sonic stay here and rest. You've earned it," Rouge said, louder this time so everyone in the group could hear. "I'll take Scourge and go with Topaz to retrieve the president." She turned away from Shadow to the others. "The rest of you should go on up to the Mystic Ruins. With the train line down, who knows how many civilians got stranded there."

Sonic and Shadow stood at the beach, watching as the group dispersed. Once they were gone, Shadow put his arm on Sonic's shoulder and directed him towards the sand. Sonic seated himself down on the sand and wrapped the towel around his shoulders. The both of them sat there for a while in complete silence on the sand.

"Did you ever get the rest of the journal pages?" Sonic asked suddenly.

Shadow looked at him. "No. They were most likely destroyed along with the ARK."

"And you're okay with that?" Sonic knew how long Shadow had spent trying to find the pieces to his past. How could he have let it go so easily?

Shadow was silent for a moment as he gained his composure. "Like I said before, I've spent so much time trying to learn the truth about what happened fifty-three years ago; about why I couldn't remember much, that I couldn't see what was in front of me. Even when I learned you were actually my brother, I left you up on the ARK and put you at risk, all so I could selfishly fulfill that goal. It wasn't until Eggman strapped that bomb onto you that I realized what was really important. I was fighting so hard for a chance to remember the family I had in the past that I was going to lose the family I have in the present. Again, I'm sorry it took me so long to realize this. I'm sorry you had to go through this whole ordeal. But most of all, I'm so sorry I left you to be Eggman's prisoner for so long, but I swear, I'll do whatever it takes to right this. You're my only family, Sonic. I'm not going to lose you."

Sonic smiled and affectionately nuzzled Shadow in brotherly love, letting out a purr. Shadow smiled and returned the gesture, also purring.

"There's something I'm still confused about, though. If we were both ejected from the ARK fifty-three years ago, how did we end up in two completely different points in time?"

"Rouge and I did some research up there and here's what we pieced together. G.U.N. had said Maria ejected two pods towards Mobius, but only one was ever recovered."

"That was the pod you were in, right?"

"Right. The reason your pod was never found was because Maria had sent it through the time machine after I said goodbye to you before she forced me into mine."

"You guys had a time machine?" Sonic asked. He never recalled seeing a time machine while on the ARK, but then again, he was restricted to only a few parts of the space station.

"It was part of the ground-breaking research Gerald was doing at the time."

"Heh."

Sonic was amazed, confused, and frightened by the thought of his immortality all at the same time. He would never have to worry about aging and not being able to run anymore, but what about his friends and the rest of their family? They would continue to age and eventually die. Someday, he was going to have to bury Tails and his other siblings.

"How do you think Tails and the others are going to take the news?" Shadow spoke up, noticing the worried look on Sonic's face. He knew the young fox was very close to Sonic. The kit had never had to share the blue hedgehog's attention with anyone else before and now he, Sonia, Manic, and their parents were going to come waltzing into the scene. Plus, the fact they were royalty...

"It's probably going to be hard for him at first, for all of us, but we'll get through this." Sonic calmed himself and held up his fist to Shadow, indicating he wanted a fist bump. "As a family."

Shadow gave a genuine smile and raised his own fist, bumping Sonic's.

* * *

**(One Month Later)**

A week of recuperation had passed before Sonic finally worked up the courage to tell his friends about his and Shadow's relation and their royal blood. Most of them had taken it pretty well, although Sonic did get a few bruises thanks to getting a mallet to the head.

Unfortunately, Eggman had escaped from jail within that week. It took another week for everyone to fully recuperate from everything and another two weeks to finish cleaning up the mess from Eggman's near-success.

Now, today was a very special day. Especially for a certain two-tailed fox and striped hedgehog.

"You nervous?" Sonic asked Tails as the kit got ready for the day.

"No. Why do you ask?" Tails asked, getting his shoes on.

"Because your shoes are switched," Shadow chuckled as he adjusted the red tongues on the cuffs of his gloves. The white fur on Tails' muzzle turned pink as he blushed.

"Okay, maybe a little."

Sonic chuckled as Tails put his shoes on the correct feet.

"You guys don't need to be nervous," he reassured. Sonic could tell Shadow was also nervous, judging from the fact that he was sweating and he'd been adjusting his cuffs for the past ten minutes. "Today is your crowning as Princes of Mobotropolis and your official adoption, Tails."

"I know, but what if people don't like us?" Shadow asked, now playing with his quills and chest fur.

"Yeah. When I was here before, people where saying things the kids on Westside Island called me," Tails mumbled.

"If anyone dares to call those things after today, I'll teach 'em a lesson," Sonic assured. Tails giggled and Shadow snorted. Sonic smirked at this. He always knew how to cheer his siblings up. Just as the three finished getting ready, a knock was heard.

"Your Highnesses, it's time," the butler informed them from the other side of their door. Shadow and Tails took a deep breath to calm their nerves.

"All right, we're ready. Let's go," Shadow said as he and Tails headed for the door.

"Wait, guys." Sonic stopped them before they could reach the door. The black hedgehog and twin-tailed fox turned to face the blue hedgehog. "I have something for you." He pulled out two medallions, like the ones he, Sonia, and Manic wore. One was nearly identical to the one he himself wore, the only difference being that the middle and bottom 'quills' turned upwards. The other was shaped like a flute and was tied by a light gray string.

"This used to belong to my evil uncle until he was banished. It's yours now, Shads. And, Tails," Sonic said handing over the medallions. "The Oracle of Delphius made this one just for you."

"Really?" Tails asked, his sky blue eyes shining. Sonic nodded. "Thank you, Sonic!"

"Thanks, Faker," Shadow thanked him at the same time. They put their new medallions on, causing all three to glow as they reacted to each other. Shadow's shone with red light and Tails' shone with yellow light. Smiling, all three brothers hugged before heading out for the ceremonies.

* * *

**I hope this ending was better than the last one. I'll see you at the next sequel!**


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